After a week which saw the Dees feeling the heat after their disappointing loss to the West Coast Eagles last round, Craig and his side can expect to be in the spotlight again after a 16-goal-to-three second-half capitulation saw the Demons run out victors by 96 points.
"When you talk about a hard-nosed AFL club, a hardened group of players, we are not that yet" Craig said, lamenting the Crows second half performance.
"Part of that hardness is the capacity week-in, week-out for 22 weeks of the year to train hard and to play hard. Clearly we are not at that level at the moment."
Craig said he could see the signs early, as the Dees had seven more scoring shots in the first quarter and had smashed the Crows in the tackle count (23-8) and inside 50s (19-10).
"I thought we would've got a response in the third quarter with just the mood of the group at half-time," he said after the deficit was just 14-points at the main break.
"To Melbourne's credit they kept their foot on the peddle, right to the end."
After performances in recent weeks Craig described as "full of merit", the Adelaide coach could not hide his frustration at his side's lack of consistency as the Crows succumbed to their worst defeat since their 141-point loss to the Brisbane Lions back in 2004.
"We know we have achieved the heights that we need to. It's not as if we are talking about a group here that hasn't even experience the level of intensity and competitive nature that you need in this sport," he said.
"We can sit and wait for time to pass, another 12-18 months into this group another 20-25 games, that makes sense and that is good practical thinking but I saw a performance last week against a hardened AFL club that I liked very much with this group."
"So I'm saying 'why not again?' That will be the theme."
Despite the magnitude of the loss, Craig is keeping the faith with his young charges and expects the Crows to bounce back against Gold Coast at AAMI Stadium next Saturday afternoon.
"As disappointing as it was… we need to make sure that we still keep pushing forward and we use that bad loss to make sure this group continues to grow."
"What I do know is that in this game you have to learn to handle failure and adversity if you are going to be any good… it will be our next challenge."
"We need to regroup pretty quickly."
The Crows will also have to wait and see whether the injured trio of Scott Thompson (calf), Matthew Wright (knee) and Patrick Dangerfield (concussion), will be available for their clash against the Suns after they all finished the match on the bench.
