Crows coach Brenton Sanderson says he expects a marked improvement in his team’s performance this week following a “confronting” review of the loss to Geelong.

Adelaide started sluggishly against the Cats last weekend and never really recovered, going down by 63 points. Sanderson identified ‘attitude’ and ‘work rate’ as two major focus areas for Friday night.

“No matter what game we play in whether it’s a practice game, a NAB Cup game or round one, there are expectations we put on ourselves internally and they certainly weren’t met last weekend. The players are aware of that,” Sanderson said.

“A lot of it was just work rate. We’re not working as hard off the ball as we’ve become accustomed to and that’s something that can be addressed really quickly. There were a few things structurally – a few times our forward structure wasn’t how we expect it to be and we were giving up big scores at the other end, which is not our style either. Our boys want to win and are trying hard, but there are levels of trying hard if that makes sense.

“We’ve got plenty of room for improvement. We’re running out of time, but we still have 17 days, four main sessions and one more NAB Cup match to get things right. You can’t flick a switch on form, but you can certainly flick a switch on attitude. We’ll get a much better effort this week I’m sure.”

The Crows went through the pre-season competition undefeated last year to claim the NAB Cup. The Club has taken a different approach in 2013, managing the workload of its senior players and blooding inexperienced Crows. Sanderson said he wasn’t concerned with Adelaide’s win-loss record, which shows only one victory (in the ‘mini’ game against Port Adelaide) this year.

“We’re not getting what we want at the moment, but it’s early March. The top three sides of last year have won one (NAB Cup) game between them,” he said.

“Is it panic stations? No, far from it but we have to get back to playing our way pretty quickly. It’s not do or die that we win this game (against Carlton). It’s more important we get the points in round one, round two and so on.

“This week, I just need to see a different attitude; us play a bit better structurally and in a more organised (manner). It’d be nice to get the win, but it’s important we play our way.”

The undefeated Blues will be playing for a spot in the NAB Cup Grand Final at AAMI Stadium on Friday night. Sanderson said he’d been impressed with Carlton’s early form.

“Carlton look great. They’ve got good method; good speed and are attacking and defending well. Mick’s done a great job in getting the team up and about at this time of year,” he said.

“It’s certainly going to be a challenge this week.”