Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks says it will forever be the great unknown.

Just what difference would Izak Rankine have made to the Crows' failed finals campaign?

"We won't ever know, will we?" Nicks said after Adelaide crashed out of the finals with a semi-final loss to Hawthorn on Friday.

"What it did do, it changed the dynamic of our group.

"I mean, Izak is - and this is my opinion - he's one of the best players in the game.

"So I think if any team lose their best player, then it becomes quite a challenge to replace that.

"Some of our guys, our younger guys, stepped up and showed that they can play at the level.

"But the challenge we had was sort of filling that void that Izak's had there for us all year. That's purely on-field."

Rankine missed the last home-and-away game and Adela

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