ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig has accused his team of getting ahead of itself following the shock 40-point loss to the Brisbane Lions at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.

The Crows kicked three of the first four goals of the game to lead by 11 points at quarter time, but were helpless to stop the Lions' onslaught after the first change, conceding eight of the next 10 goals to trail by 34 points at three-quarter time.

Adelaide was an unwilling participant in a similar turnaround at Etihad Stadium last weekend, when Collingwood piled on 11 unanswered goals in the final quarter to transform a 23-point deficit early in the term into a stunning 43-point win.

Craig said the Crows, who have managed only three wins from nine games this season, had no reason to be complacent going into the game against the lowly Lions.

"We didn't play like millionaires, but I thought we played with an attitude today that we would be okay and I don't know what gives us the right to play with that attitude," Craig said after the game.

"I thought we played as if it was just going to happen and that's a very immature approach.

"I'm not sure why we, as a playing group at the moment would be getting ahead of ourselves because we've got nothing to get ahead of ourselves with.

"We've played some reasonable football at stages this year, but every club could argue that and that's the disappointing part for us."

Inconsistency, both during games and on a week-to-week basis, has been a major issue for Adelaide this season.

The 13th-placed Crows are yet to record consecutive wins, or win away from home.

They displayed exceptional form in round one, upstaging top-four fancies Hawthorn but then slumped to a disastrous 96-point loss to a struggling Melbourne in round seven.

Craig described his team's performance on Sunday against an injury-hit team that hadn't won a game until last weekend, as it's "worst of the season".

"It must be driving our supporters mad to see a quality of football for a long period of time [against Collingwood] last week, and then to serve that up today," he said.

"It says to me that we don't really understand yet, as a group what creates success...it was a really poor performance.

"Our best is very good, but our worst is really poor so if you put it all together we've still got a huge way to go.

"We mustn't fall into the trap of saying, 'our best is very good and we can match it with the best teams in the comp', because in the end you've got to look at your consistency of performance."

The loss was compounded by a knee injury to Taylor Walker.

Walker's sprained his knee when he was tackled to the ground late in the second quarter, and will have scans on Monday.

Craig forecast changes to the team ahead of the clash with North Melbourne next week, with former best and fairest winner Bernie Vince, midfielder Brad Symes and utility Brad Moran all performing well in the SANFL over the weekend.

Katrina Gill covers Adelaide news for afl.com.au. Follow her on Twitter: @AFL_KatrinaGill