Senior assistant coach Mark Bickley believes there’s a ‘quick fix’ for Adelaide’s disappointing performance against Essendon in Round One.
The Crows kicked the first three goals of the season-opener, but succumbed to the Bombers’ pressure after quarter-time, eventually going down by 35 points. An in-depth review of the match highlighted tackling and ball movement as two “obvious” areas for improvement.
Bickley was confident the team could rectify these issues in time for the round two clash with the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Saturday, April 6.
“I think those (areas) can be fixed quickly – you don’t lose your ability overnight,” Bickley said.
“Essendon put us under pressure. They did a lot of things well and we did a lot of things below our best. As a football club, we have an expectation that we perform as close to our best as often as possible, but we were nowhere near our best on Friday night.
“This group has showed they respond really strongly. Last year, we didn’t lose two games in a row. It’s not as much about not wanting to lose two games in a row – we just want to get back to winning, full-stop. The actual measure of not losing two games in a row is a test of resilience. Things didn’t go how you planned one week, and it’s about how you respond the next week.
“Last year, most of the times we were challenged we were able to come back and do something about it – that’s the challenge for the group. I think they would say that (response) is important to them.”
The players will have Thursday and Friday off before returning to the Club on the weekend. Round One concludes with the blockbuster between Hawthorn and Geelong at the MCG on Easter Monday.
“In some ways the week off is good for us," Bickley said.
"It gives us a bit of time to really focus on some of the areas we performed poorly in. The expectation will be next time we get a chance, we’ll be a lot better. There are plenty of those things we can improve on.”