Click here to watch Heath Shaw's post-game interview on CTV

50-gamer Heath Shaw spoke to CTV following the loss to Adelaide, and is confident his team will be well prepared for the first week of the finals regardless of the opposition.

The 21-year-old, who was one fo the Magpies' best with 28 possessions, conceded that allowing the Crows to jump out to an early lead cost the side dearly in what was a tight, physical contest at Telstra Dome.

“It was tough for four quarters,” said Shaw in the rooms after the game.

“We didn’t start off the best, I think they were five goals to one or two in the first quarter which is not what we wanted, and throughout the rest of the game it was pretty even, goal for goal pretty much.”

The Magpies are entrenched in sixth position and set to host an elimination final against either the Crows or Sydney, their last two opponents, and Shaw believes the side will take confidence into whichever match up eventuates.  

“I think it’s either Sydney or Adelaide next week, so we’ve played both of them (in the past two weeks), and one win, one loss.

“They play similar types of football, and we’ve shown that we can win under that sort of circumstance, and hopefully next week we have a win and push on into the finals.

Shaw also explained that the way to combat the Crows’ ultra-defensive tactics is simple, it was just that the Magpies didn’t execute the plan all that well on Friday night.

“It was just get the ball in there as quickly as we can. Pebs was marking a few and Reidy was playing really well so we just had to get the ball in there as quick as we could.

“We know they flood back a fair bit and try and make it difficult for us, so we had to try and get it in there but it didn’t work out in the end, but we can work on that for next week and take some positives out of it as well.”

Magpie fans can also take heart from Heath producing a really strong performance in his milestone game, returning to the form that has seen him emerge as one of the most damaging running defenders in the competition.

“I felt a bit better today. I’ve been a bit down the last couple of weeks with the running and all that, so it’s been good to get a bit further up the ground and get a few kicks, and hopefully set up a few goals.”