ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson will resist the temptation to swing his selection axe this week, despite admitting there were "imposters" playing for the Crows last Sunday.

The side went down to North Melbourne by 32 points and Sanderson said only 11 players finished the game with a pass mark.

But he added it would be foolish to forget all the positive football the group had played before last Sunday's disappointment.

"There were some imposters out there ... there was some players with the jumpers on and the same numbers but it just didn't seem to be us," he said.

"You have to be upset with the way that we played last week, but at the same time you can't just throw it all out and say we're now a bad team.

"We certainly won't be throwing too many players out this week."

While Sanderson wrote the loss to the Kangaroos off as "a bad day at work", he admitted much more was expected of the playing group and was confident they would bounce back against Richmond on Saturday afternoon.

"If you play for the Adelaide Crows, you're required to play a certain way and if we're 5 per cent off we're going to get embarrassed by any side," he said.

"I'm fresh out of the game and we've got some coaches who are fresh out of the game and we understand that sometimes you just play poorly.

"I'm sure we'll see a much better Adelaide Crows outfit out there this weekend."

Sanderson said his side's tackling ability, or inability, remained his key concern.

Adelaide registered 42 tackles last Sunday and, while it was one more than the Kangaroos, the coach suggested such a number wouldn't cut it against the Tigers.

"We had four tackles in the second quarter, six tackles in the fourth quarter, that's 10 tackles in a half of footy," he said.

"Fremantle, when they played Richmond earlier this season had 118 tackles; it takes us two games to get that many.

"We want to bring that tackle pressure."

Key forward Kurt Tippett didn't train on Wednesday after being concussed in last Sunday's loss, but Sanderson was confident he would play on Saturday.

He said Tippett had one more test to pass on Friday to satisfy the AFL's concussion rules, while Sam Shaw might need a week to recover after he hyperextended his knee.

Tippett has taken a step forward in 2012 and Sanderson said his combination with Taylor Walker was needed on Saturday.

"The chemistry of (Taylor) Walker and Tippett's been great this year," he said.

"I think we're a better side when both of those two boys are playing in our forward line."

The coach also promised small forward Jared Petrenko a starting role, admitting it was a mistake to make him the sub last weekend.

Sanderson said the side missed his pressure early in the match.

"I'll put my hand up and say that was a blue that I made and I don't think Petrenko will be the sub this week," he said.

Harry Thring covers Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.