Coach Brenton Sanderson believes the Crows are back on track following their “most consistent” performance of the season against St Kilda at AAMI Stadium on Sunday night.

Adelaide held a nine-point lead after a tight and scrappy first half, but was able to break the game open in the third quarter. The home team was patient and precise with the ball against the overloaded Saints defence. The Crows kicked eight goals to the visitors’ three in the second half to record a comfortable 40-point win.

Sanderson said his side had built on its encouraging form of the previous fortnight.

“I thought we played four quarters today even though it didn’t look pretty early,” Sanderson said.

“We kicked the ball terribly in the first quarter … but I felt we were in control for the majority of the game. We didn’t have those big lapses where the opposition scored two or three goals. We seemed to be consistent from start to finish … and played some of our most consistent, best footy.

“Three weeks in a row now I’ve been happy with our output, the way we’re setting up and playing the game out until the end.”

The win squared Adelaide’s season ledger at four wins and four losses, moving the Club into ninth place on the AFL ladder. Sanderson said it was vital his side kept winning in a “really even” season.

“We’re still not out of the woods. We’re out of the top eight … and we saw some of the results this weekend; there were a few strange ones. The top sides lost and the middle-tier teams had wins,” he said.

“We’ve really had to scrap to get back to 4-4, and there’s a bit of a logjam of clubs at 4-4. We play a really quality team in North Melbourne this week. North are 3-5, but they’re playing way better footy than that.

“The games they’ve lost have been by small margins. They’re playing some really exciting footy and it’s going to be a cracking game over at Etihad Stadium.”

The Crows learned a valuable lesson from Carlton’s loss to the Saints last week.

The Blues paid the price for bombing the ball inside 50m, where clever drop-off players Ben McEvoy, Sam Fisher and Sean Dempster lay in wait. Adelaide’s finished with 45 more marks than the Saints on Sunday night – a reflection of the home team’s ability to pin-point targets rather than kick long to an uneven-numbered contest.

“The Saints are a difficult side to attack through. They do frustrate you with the way they set up defensively,” Sanderson said.

“They forced us really wide in the first half. We didn’t get quality and value for our inside 50ms. After half-time, our ball use was a bit sharper. We lowered our eyes and were able to hit our mids outside 50m a bit more.

“We seemed to take the game on a little bit better and got the result.”