Adelaide head coach Matthew Nicks has laid a marker ahead of his crucial contract season, stating that he and his Crows have their sights set firmly on a return to the finals action.

The Crows have not played September football since their defeat in the 2017 grand final, with the club quickly shrouded in controversy in the wake of the loss due to the fallout of the infamous 2018 pre-season camp.

Now six seasons on from the event that shattered harmony and led to a mass exodus of talent at West Lakes, Nicks, set to enter his fifth season at the helm, stated that recent upticks in performance should have the club's faithful feeling confident.

"For our supporters, there's an expectation there, and so there should be. They should be confident on what they've seen in our group," Nicks told 7 News.

"We'll continue to improve. Our expectation is to play finals footy."

Save for a controversial goal umpiring decision in a late-season loss to Sydney, Adelaide could well have made their finals return last season.

Yet, with the club losing five games by a goal or less, near enough proved not good enough, with Adelaide left to end the year on the ladder's tenth rung.

Akin to Collingwood under head coach Craig McRae, Nicks stressed that his group had gone to work on understanding how it was they had let the close ones slip as well as training late-game scenarios in order to tighten the screws.

"We've done a lot of work on some scenario on how we'll get the job done in those," Nicks said.

Without a deal beyond the end of the year and expectations ramping up, many could forgive Nicks for feeling ill at ease entering the season. However, when probed as to when a new deal would arise, the 48-year-old pointed to the bigger picture.

"My contract runs out at the end of this year. I've enjoyed the journey, but we're already in conversation and I'm really comfortable with where that sits at this point," Nicks said.

"It's part of the goal we set out, the big, long-term goal, so it'll be one where we just work our way through that as we go. If it's pre the first round, so be it; if it's not, then we'll just keep working through it."

Nicks and his murder of Crows are set to face rivals Port Adelaide (Friday, February 23 at Alberton Oval) and West Coast (Saturday, March 2 at Hisense Stadium) in their pair of pre-season fixtures.

Adelaide's 2024 season proper will commence on Saturday, March 16 when it makes the trip north to do battle with Gold Coast at Carrara.