Gold Coast has never come closer to Adelaide than the 28-point loss in the teams’ last meeting, but the Crows are fully aware Sunday’s clash will be their toughest yet against the GC SUNS.

Adelaide won the first four encounters between the sides by an average of almost 70 points, but never before have the SUNS been in such red-hot form, as they come in to this round 11 match-up on a five-game winning streak.

Defender Rory Laird was instrumental in the Crows’ victory at Metricon Stadium last season where he finished with 29 disposals and 10 marks, but the backman knows Sunday’s match will be a big test for his inconsistent side.

“"We played them last year and they were a really tough side, I think we won by four or five goals in the end but they were showing really quick signs of improvement," he said.

"This year they've been playing exceptional football, they're really coming of age.

"They're a very skilful side, they run hard, they're very clean and they've got a lot of talent up there."

The Crows showed in their win over Collingwood that they have the potential to match it with the league’s best teams, especially with mecurial forward Taylor Walker now two games back from a long injury layoff.

A loss at home to Melbourne in round 7 showed Brenton Sanderson’s side is still a long way off where it was during its thrilling run to the preliminary final in 2012, and the Crows desperately need to win games like the one against the SUNS to have any hope of playing finals football.

"I want to win and I want to eventually play finals this year – that's my main goal," Laird said.

"It's a bit frustrating at the moment with how we're playing, we have lapses here and there that really hurt us.

"Our pressure around the ball drops off.

"We've shown it against Collingwood that we can do it for four quarters so it's just a matter of doing that week in, week out."