While the Crows are enjoying a few days' rest during the pre-finals bye, Rankine has headed to Europe, where he will continue to prepare for a possible grand-final appearance.
The 25-year-old has faced intense scrutiny since admitting directing a homophobic slur at a Collingwood opponent in round 23.
Rankine - the sixth AFL-listed player banned over a homophobic slur in the past two seasons - was handed a four-match suspension over the incident.
He will only play again this season if Adelaide lose a qualifying final but then advance to the grand final, when he would be available for selection.
In Rankine's absence, the Crows secured their first minor premiership since 2017 with a 13-point win over North Melbourne on Saturday.
James Peatling (three goals) and inexperienced Billy Dowling (two) were among those who stepped up to fill the void in attack.
Dominant key forward Riley Thilthorpe and Ben Keays added three majors each.
"There's some things you can't replace with players and there's some things you can," Keays told AAP.
"But our mentality as a forward line is that it's a whole group effort no matter what the roles are.
"Everybody's got a role to play but it's a whole system.
"That's what we've been training for a number of years now and that's what our mentality is."
Keays hailed Adelaide's ability to maintain their focus leading into the Kangaroos clash amid the Rankine furore and drawn-out process to determine his penalty.
"We were pretty good at it. I think everyone did a good job of keeping their focus on the right things and the game," Keays said.
"We were head down and ready for North Melbourne all week, and we've been in that mindset all year.
"No matter what's been thrown our way and no matter what adversity we've faced, we've always had a good mentality of just focusing on the next week, so we'll keep doing that."
Keays backed Adelaide to stay switched on throughout September despite the ongoing spotlight on Rankine.
"It's the same mentality as we've had all year: one week at a time, trust our system and go to work during the week," Keays said.
"It's a hard-working group and we love coming in to work together.
"It's a strong culture and we'll just lean on all those things and go out and try to execute."
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578
9°C