Small forward Lachlan Murphy played his best game of the season in Sunday’s narrow loss to Essendon, but he wants to contribute more in order to snap Adelaide’s losing streak.

The 21-year-old was Adelaide’s goalkicker against the Bombers, slotting three majors from 16 disposals in his first appearance since Round Five.

It was a positive step after just one goal from his previous five games, but a shattered Murphy conceded it wasn’t enough. 

“I haven’t had a great start to the season, I’m not going to shy away from that,” Murphy told AFC Media post-game.

“To be able to come back in and put in a performance, personally it’s really nice. But look, it’s not enough and I’d really just love to win.

Adelaide’s three-point loss came from a “lack of polish” during critical moments of the contest according to Crows coach Matthew Nicks’ post-match assessment.

The players weren’t found lacking in intent, however substandard training habits had carried into game day which ultimately impacted the result. 

“The polish, skill execution – we’ll keep training that. We probably had a sub-par training session coming into the game,” Murphy said.

“We had enough opportunities so to not capitalise on those opportunities and to just fall short, it hurts.

“It’s just making sure we’re doing our extra kicks, extra handballs, and that’ll flow out into a game.”

The Crows will travel to Queensland in Round Nine to take on North Melbourne at Metricon Stadium, marking the commencement of a fixture featuring four games in 15 days. 

While there will be a heavy focus on recovery with a six-day break, skill execution will be trained appropriately. 

“Everyone knows that the next four games are really tough, six days into four days. Lots of recovery, we’ll still train hard during the week,” Murphy said.

“Tidy up on those skills and that polish, but it’s more recovery, getting the body right and then we can attack the weekend really fit, really healthy and really strong.”