Former player Wayne Weidemann, who played 48 games for the Crows in the 1990s, has accused the Crows' mentor of producing a "bunch of altar boys".
Weidemann told the Adelaide Advertiser the players had become "regimented" under Craig, and were being denied the opportunity to play with "flair" - a claim the Crows coach refuted.
The criticism of Craig and constant innuendo over his coaching future prompted chairman Rob Chapman to reaffirm the club's support for its longest-serving coach at a pre-match function at AAMI Stadium last Saturday.
Craig denied he needed public reassurance from his chairman, and said he would continue to try and find ways to shut out the "noise" surrounding his future.
"Is it [the speculation] a distraction? I try not to make it a distraction because I can't afford to," Craig said on Thursday.
"Are you immune to it? No, you're not because you know it's there, but you need to be able to develop the tools to keep it at bay, so the noise doesn't get in that can take your focus away from what you're meant to do.
"You've just got to keep going, keep the focus and do the best you possibly can because if you take your eye off the ball you're wasting time."
On Friday night, Craig will go head to head with a coach in a "similar position" to his own, in Western Bulldogs mentor Rodney Eade.
Eade was also forced to respond to speculation over his future during the week, denying reports he would walk away from the club mid-season.
The Crows and Dogs have recorded only three wins each this season, prompting suggestions both clubs needed to rebuild.
Craig said the performance of inexperienced players Rory Sloane, Phil Davis, Shaun McKernan, Brodie Smith, Luke Thompson and Sam Jacobs - who he predicted would be a "dominant ruckman for the next 10 years" - suggested Adelaide didn't need to bottom out to be successful again.
"Typically, what happens after a period whether you've had the ultimate success of [winning] a grand final or just say playing in the finals, people say you've got to go down, clean out and spend three years down there - if you look at Carlton, Hawthorn, West Coast, St Kilda and Melbourne," he said.
"I don't think we need to do that. We don't necessarily have to bottom out for two or three years to go and get draft picks. I think we've got enough talent at our club at the moment to be ahead of that.
"The enjoyment for me at the moment is the challenge of this group ... it's a brand new challenge for me.
"Clearly, this group has showed some things this year that we're not back down there [needing to bottom-out], but we're still a long away from where we want to go."
Forwards Kurt Tippett (shoulder) and Patrick Dangerfield (thumb) are expected to line up against the Bulldogs, but tagger Brent Reilly is in doubt with bone bruising to his knee.
The Dogs have recalled Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney and Lindsay Gilbee for the clash, while All-Australian defender Brian Lake will play in the VFL.
Katrina Gill covers Adelaide news for afl.com.au. Follow her on Twitter: @AFL_KatrinaGill
