ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig says it hasn’t been easy to stick to his coaching philosophy and not be swayed by the multitude of opinions on offer about what the club should do to rectify its disastrous start to the season.

Craig has copped the brunt of the criticism over the Crows’ underwhelming performance this year, with some pundits suggesting he’s lost the faith of his players and others saying his style of coaching had taken its toll on the group.

On Monday, chief executive Steven Trigg came to the defence of the embattled coach, describing calls for Craig’s head as “pathetic” and “short-sighted”.

Craig said it was important he didn’t let outside opinion force him into making rash changes to a game plan that took the club to within a kick of a preliminary final berth last season.

“Losing is the toughest time you have as a club and a coach, but it’s also a period where you develop skills that you probably don’t have unless you go through it," Craig said on Thursday.

"You’ve got to be very clear about where you’re going because you get so much opinion about what should happen and what should change,”

“Unless you’re really clear about where you’re going you can start to change all over the place. But you don’t want to become pig-headed and not do something just to say, ‘well I’ll show you’. It really tests your philosophy about where you’re going and why you’re doing things.”

The Crows have focussed on lifting their quality of training over the past week, with the aim of running more players into some form.

Craig said it was hard to gauge how his side’s game plan or structures were stacking up with so many players performing well below their best.

“At the moment we’re relying on too few players to get the result that we want,” he said.

“The reality is that, because of the number of guys we haven’t got playing high-level football, sometimes it’s hard to judge your so-called game plan.

"I don’t want to be in a situation at the moment where we’re changing too many things and all of a sudden you can’t assess anything."
 
Craig has kept his message to the players simple in the lead up to Friday night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs - win the contested ball, convert in front of goal and move the ball quickly and efficiently.

The Crows have kicked just 31 goals in the opening four games, at a League-low conversion rate of 43.7 per cent.

Craig said it was important his players continued to back themselves in front of goal.

“It’s just the efficiency with what we’re doing things (that’s the issue), like our goalkicking. We’re getting (the right number of) shots on goal, but the accuracy has been well documented,” he said.

“You might miss one shot on goal, but you need to have an attitude of give it to me again so I can have another go at it. That’s the attitude we keep talking to our players about, not to go back into their shells.”