Where once there were four, now there are apparently five.

Vanquished Fremantle coach Mark Harvey rated Adelaide genuine premiership contenders alongside St Kilda, Geelong, the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood after watching his side slump to a record 117-point thumping by the Crows at AAMI Stadium.

Harvey said Adelaide's strong game style of swift ball movement backed by tight defence was allied to a list that has few major injury concerns entering the latter part of the season, making them a legitimate finals threat.

The Crows' contract for the rest of the year is likely to be written over the next three weeks, when games against the Saints and the Cats are split by the local showdown against Port Adelaide.

"Everyone thought there might have been four challenging, but I think there's five," Harvey said.

"They've got a tough draw for the rest of the year, they play some really good sides, but what they have got is everyone up and running now.

"That's a real plus and there's a lot of sides going the other way and losing players this time of the year.

"When you have stability in your personnel, then you have stability in your structures and you have really good understanding, and that's what they've got going for them."

Harvey also pointed ruefully to the tactics Adelaide had been able to prepare under lock and key after resorting to closed training sessions.

"Adelaide will be interesting team going forward, the interesting part about all this now is where training and planning and all of that goers, because as you know Adelaide have locked everyone out," he said.

"I think you'll find everyone will be starting to do that a lot more.

"The days of the spies are coming, big time."

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