Scott Thompson says Adelaide’s lacklustre performance against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Sunday was uncharacteristic of the Club this season.

After failing to convert a couple of early shots at goal, the Crows struggled to get going against the Kangaroos, conceding nine of the first 12 majors to trail by 35 points at half time.

The visitors kicked four unanswered goals in the third term to stage a mini-revival and cut the margin to 23 points, but the Roos rallied and held on for a comfortable 32-point win.

Adelaide had 66 fewer disposals than the Kangaroos, who also generated 16 more inside 50ms. The Crows struggled to win the ball around the stoppages and lost the all-important contested possession count, 134-119. The team also laid a season-low 42 tackles, including just four in the second quarter.

Thompson said the onus was on his team to respond against Richmond at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.

“Looking back on the game, it was very unlike us,” Thompson said.

“We’ve played some outstanding footy throughout this year so far and to come over here and put up that performance in the first half was really disappointing. Interstate this year we’ve been really good but it was a little step backwards for us today.

“We’ll re-group during the week and we’ve got a short week. We’ll front up against Richmond on Saturday and, hopefully, put on a better performance.”

Coach Brenton Sanderson was particularly disappointed the team was unable to deliver in skipper Nathan van Berlo’s 150^th game.

“You don’t need any motivation to play AFL football. Every chance you get to put on the Adelaide Crows jumper, you grab it and play like your life depends on it,” Sanderson said.

“When your skipper is playing his 150^th game - a milestone game - you need to play better than that. We’ll review the game. The ultimate response is how we start the game next week, how we train and how the guys, who were down today, perform next week.

“We certainly need a better effort if we’re going to beat Richmond next week.”

Thompson and van Berlo were two of only “four or five winners” on the ground for Adelaide according to Sanderson. Forward Taylor Walker (three goals) and veteran Michael Doughty also earned praise from the coach.

Despite the lack of contributors on Sunday, Thompson denied the midfield duties were being left to too few.

“If you look at the numbers across the team throughout the first half of the season, we’ve had a great spread of blokes contributing to the side,” he said.

“We’ve probably got 10-12 players, who can roll through the midfield, and we’ve got absolute confidence that whoever is in there can get the job done. Today, as a midfield group we let ourselves down especially in the first half. I thought in the second half we played a better brand and were a lot more competitive, but it wasn’t enough.”

Jared Petrenko, who started as the substitute, also had an impact after being introduced into the game at the expense of Kurt Tippett (concussion) after half time. Sanderson admitted the match committee might’ve erred by not starting livewire Petrenko in the 21.

“We went with three tall forwards early. We still had Richard Douglas and Ian Callinan, who’s had an outstanding season, and Bernie Vince back in the side to play that mid-forward role for us,” he said.

“We just thought that with the three talls we might be able to stretch North. It looked like it might work early when we took a few marks, but Tippett was off injured at half-time and Petrenko came on and played really well. It might’ve been a mistake (using Petrenko as the sub) but it’s a high-energy role he plays.

“The sub’s a tricky one. We do spend a lot of time on it. We never just guess and we’ll review that this week.”

The Crows had an opportunity to snatch top spot on the AFL ladder with a win over North Melbourne. Sanderson said his team’s performance highlighted why the Club has refused to talk about finals.

“You never get ahead of yourselves in this game,” Sanderson said.

“We mention it every week - we never look further than our next contest. Our first quarter was disappointing and we couldn’t make amends in the second quarter. We saw a better effort in the second quarter, but we still lost by 32 points.

“North Melbourne was very good and credit to them, they came to play.”