The Crows kept pace with the Brisbane Lions during the first half of Friday night’s semi-final at the Gabba and opened the second half with three straight goals, but were overrun in warm conditions to eventually go down by 42 points.
He conceded the Lions were a better side with a list that probably ran a bit deeper than his own.
Ayres also wouldn’t be drawn on whether the ‘window of opportunity’ on his club’s ability to win a premiership was gone.
“Every year I hope to win a premiership. It doesn’t matter whether I’ve got Wayne Carey, Ronnie Burns, Tommy Porridge or whoever,” Ayres said after the loss.
“Every year that I’ve coached – and that’s nine years now – I’ve want to win the premiership every single year.
“So whether the window’s open, shut, half-closed, half-open, who cares.”
In particular, Ayres singled out the forward line as an area that hasn’t developed to his expectations.
“Certainly the area we addressed obviously was to try and get a couple of key forward type players – (Ronnie) Burns and (Wayne) Carey.”
“What’s probably impacted a fair bit over the year is that a lot of those guys we probably had earmarked for opportunities to improve our forward line just haven’t been able to do it more so through I think injury and lack of game time.”
He promised an influx of ‘new blood’ for an assault on the 2004 flag.
“It’s going to be an interesting situation when we sit down in the light of day and analyse what we think we need to do from here on in.”
He was also disappointed with Adelaide’s finish to the season.
“Probably on reflection as far as how the year’s gone, we’re probably about where were are if you just say looked at it maybe over the last five or six weeks perhaps.”
“Winning one game out of five … is not what you want to do.”
