Craig's team put up a praiseworthy effort for three quarters against Collingwood three weeks ago before being run over in the final term, but since then has slumped to big losses to the Brisbane Lions and North Melbourne.
Both of those teams have struggled for wins this season and were below Adelaide on the ladder when they met.
The back-to-back disappointing efforts led the coach to admit his team currently doesn't have the necessary credentials to be considered a finals contender after a season that began amid such promise.
"Clearly we are so far way from playing footy good enough to string enough games together [to play finals]," Craig said after the Kangaroos jumped out to a 24-point lead at quarter-time before going on to record a 47-point win.
"That's the last thing we're talking about as a footy club.
"We expected a lot better than that. It was very surprising with the stoppage work in particular. I thought the guys prepared really well during the week, but we were really disappointed at quarter-time."
In what has become a concerning theme for the Crows, they were again badly beaten in contested possession and clearances and could manage just 34 inside 50 entries for the match.
Craig promised time and resources would be allocated to getting to the bottom of the issue that is puzzling him given the quality of onballers like Nathan van Berlo, Scott Thompson, Richard Douglas and Bernie Vince he feels should be able to get the job done.
"I'd have a real debate with anyone who questioned their capacity to win a hard footy and their attitude," he said.
Craig has steadfastly refused, both this season and in years past, to fall back on the excuse that he has a young side that is going through a rebuilding phase, but he appeared to take a step closer to that viewpoint after the latest defeat.
"This is a huge challenge for our footy club, with the squad that we've, got to build it and to build it as quickly as we possibly can," he said.
"We'll give our supporters some short-term enjoyment if we can, but also look into the future of what it can be like down the track."
Although clearly disappointed with the result, Craig was buoyed by the spirit his charges showed to fight out the game, which he said had been lacking in last week's loss to the Lions.
With just three wins on the board and the losses mounting, the coach faces a battle to ensure that edge remains in place.
"We've got to make sure that we keep our competitive spirit because if you lose that you've got nothing," he said.
"At the moment the spirit aspect of our game hasn't been an issue for me. Even now.
"At least today we showed some fight to stay in the game to a certain extent, as in we weren't going to get blown away by 15 or 16 goals, but we need to do a lot of work on our stoppages and our midfield in general."
The defeat sees Adelaide drop to 14th on the ladder and will inevitably lead to increased scrutiny on his role as senior coach, but he stuck by his recent comments that he is enjoying the job more than ever before and has a steely resolve to guide this team to greatness.
"Our supporters at the moment would say 'how can you say that?' because they can only believe what they see, but I'm still really confident with this group that it will end up being a very good group," he said.
"We've seen signs earlier in the year, but certainly in the last two weeks you'd have to say 'well we haven't seen that'.
"We've actually got to build some trust with our supporters so we don't get this up and down and all over the shop [performance].
"Trust is only built by the quality of your play week in and week out and clearly at the moment, as a footy team, we can't be trusted to play good footy week after week."
