“There’s a degree of frustration (in) not being able to execute the way we wanted,” said Craig after the game.
“There will be a lot of games this year where there will be frustration for our playing group. Were we calm enough when things weren’t quite unfolding? No, we weren’t.
“There’s lots of great examples we’ll be able to show on the debrief.”
Craig was satisfied with Adelaide’s general display around the field in the first half, apart from the failure to translate that control onto the scoreboard.
“In the first half, we were very good. Our last bit, finishing off in the forward line, we had a bit of trouble with. Around the ground we were very good, and to come away with four valuable premiership points with the way the season is unfolding is important for our group to go through.”
In a game he admitted wasn’t a great spectacle for fans or even those in the coaching box, Craig saw the patience of his players being tested. He said that the tactics of Melbourne defensively were different to anything else Adelaide had come up against so far.
“I think Melbourne played a different type of defence to what we have been exposed to this year,” he said.
“It was more what I would call a flooding type of defence with people back in density in our forward line. It’s the first time we’ve been exposed to it for a long time, because it’s the way football used to be defended. We struggled with it, and we need to put some time into it in our training.”
Craig was happy with the form of returnee Jonathon Griffin in the ruck.
“I thought he gave us more height and reach in the centre bounce. He hasn’t played AFL for a reasonable time,” Craig said.
The Adelaide coach also felt the Crows’ backline was more stable in this match, and lauded the efforts of Graham Johncock.
“Our capacity to settle our defence was much better today; I think we’ve rotated too many people through there in the past. We had maybe eight players go through there today, whereas in the last couple of weeks we had 10 or 12. It enables players to settle.
“He’s had some trauma in his life recently, Graham, but I think he’s back to some of his best form.”
Craig said he hadn’t heard the crowd’s booing of Nathan Bock in the aftermath of the defender’s recent off-field problems, but when told that it was persistent, he said: “Poor taste; that’s all I’d say about that.
“He’s going to have to handle it. I’m not going to try and defend and stop football crowds from doing it. I just say it’s poor taste, and I won’t back off on that comment. In the end, Nathan has to wear that. That’s part of the price he has to pay. What I will add to that is that not one Geelong player made a comment to him last week. That is good taste.”
