A frustrated Phil Walsh says the Crows will continue to tinker with pre-game preparation in a bid to rectify the slow starts that have crept into their games this season.
Adelaide conceded the first four goals of the match against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba before kicking the next two to reduce the deficit to 12 points at quarter time. The Crows have won just five of their 12 first quarters this season.
Not dissimilar to the game against Carlton prior to the bye, the gritty Crows showed spirit to fight back and record a narrow win against the Lions. But Walsh said his team was making life difficult for itself by giving up early leads.
“That (our starts) is a major frustration to us. To our fans, because I’m sure it’s causing them a lot of frustration too, we’re doing as much as possible to address it but it doesn’t seem as if we’re getting much traction at the moment,” Walsh said.
“That’s the role of coach, to get the players in a mindset where they’re ready for a fierce contest. Obviously, they weren’t ready for that (on Saturday night). I’ll look back over that, challenge myself and get some feedback on it. I’ll talk to our leaders.
“When it becomes so much front of mind, maybe, that’s an issue in itself. But everyone’s accountable. You can’t just do that (ignore it) when it’s so obvious.
“Our skills and our poor starts get you in a situation like that. Let’s be honest, you’re not going to win too many games like that especially away from home.”
Basic skill errors and inaccurate goalkicking were also issues again on Saturday night.
Walsh showed faith in the same 22 players after the Round 12 loss to Hawthorn, but indicated changes would be made ahead of next week’s crucial clash with Geelong.
“We’ve got to be men about it. We’ve got to face up to it and we’ve got to get better,” he said.
“Although we won you’d say, maybe, we’ve got to make a couple of (personnel) changes. I’ll go back (to Adelaide) early, so I can watch our State League team play. I’ll see if there are some guys there who can improve us.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in this group. I think the fabric is there. We’re just not connecting correctly at the moment and a little bit of that is to do with the obvious (skill errors) that we’ve already mentioned.
“When you turn the ball over, you get everyone out of position. You saw what happened in the last quarter when we were able to move the ball quick and get it to where we wanted to. We looked like a good team, but for the first three quarters, we didn’t look like that at all.”
The 13-point win over Brisbane improved Adelaide’s record to 7-5 this season.
The seventh-placed Crows face an important three weeks against fellow top-eight contenders Geelong, West Coast in Perth and an ‘away’ Showdown with Port Adelaide.
Walsh said the Club was under no illusions that it would have to improve to feature in finals action.
“We got off to a nice start (to the season) but from then on we’ve just battled,” he said.
“I’m proud of this group to be at 7-5, but to get where we need to go and where I think this Club is good enough to get to, we have to address those issues.
“We won’t shy away from them, but we’ll do it behind closed doors and working as hard as possible, not in a public forum.”
The Crows are likely to be without Rory Sloane for at least the next month.
Sloane suffered a suspected fractured left cheekbone in a collision with Lions tough nut Mitch Robinson in the third quarter at the Gabba. It’s the same injury the 2013 Club Champion sustained in an earlier trip to Queensland to play Gold Coast in Round Six.
Young midfielder Brad Crouch will also require further assessment after experiencing more soreness in his troublesome foot in the first quarter of the Club’s SANFL Showdown on Sunday.
