CARETAKER coach Mark Bickley says he doesn't believe Adelaide's loss to Richmond at AAMI Stadium on Sunday will harm his chances of securing the permanent position if he decides to put his hand up for the role.

The 22-point loss to the Tigers was the Crows' second, and worst defeat since Bickley took over from long-serving coach Neil Craig, who resigned in round 19.

The two-time premiership captain's only other defeat at the helm was by 11 points in a courageous performance against Geelong in round 21.

The loss consigns Adelaide to 14th place on the AFL ladder, and its worst-ever season (eight or fewer wins).

Bickley is yet to declare if he wants to be considered for the vacant coaching position, vowing to wait until the end of the season to make a decision.

But after the match Bickley gave a hint as to which way he was leaning, saying he hadn't experienced anything to suggest he wasn't ready to pursue his ambition of being an AFL coach.

"I'm not sitting here judging every performance and what that means to me," Bickley said.

"Today was another scenario you get exposed to that challenges you. It's a continual learning process and I don't think it changes a whole lot.

"I don't think there was anything today, which [made me] walk off the oval thinking it means I'm not ready.

"I've sat in the coach's box for two-and-a-half years as an assistant.

"We've tackled the same issues we tackled today lots and lots of times."

Adelaide led by 24 points early in the third quarter of the high-scoring game, but conceded five unanswered goals - and the lead - late in the term to trail by four points at the final change.

The Crows slipped further behind when Dustin Martin set up a goal to forward Tyrone Vickery in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, and were unable to snatch back the lead.

"I thought Richmond out-worked us today. Their ability to get in and win the footy was better than ours and our tackling wasn’t at the level it has been the last couple of weeks," Bickley said.

"We played it out right to the very end, but we're not in a situation where we can afford to be two, three or four per cent off our game. We're not that good a side.

"Today, we were off. We weren't clean, we fumbled and we didn’t make the most of our opportunities.

"If we looked at some of the players that were below their best today, a lot of them were younger players.

"The profile of our side is a young side. We'll get some inconsistency. It's about ironing those out."

Bickley defended the decision to bring emergency Brodie Martin, who had already played a game for Sturt on Saturday, into the team for veteran Michael Doughty, who was forced to withdraw with illness.

Substitute Martin made a crucial mistake, turning the ball over straight to Trent Cotchin from the kick-in shortly after coming onto the ground in the final quarter, but Bickley denied the Crows' choice of sub had any bearing on the result.

All three emergencies (Martin, Ivan Maric and Ricky Henderson) were given permission to play in the SANFL this weekend, but Bickley said the club would've approached the situation differently if it had still been in finals contention.