Adelaide Crows midfielder Richard Douglas says the club’s skills execution needs urgent work

THE Crows’ skills execution will be first on the list of issues to address ahead of injury-hit Adelaide’s huge clash against Sydney on Friday night.

Richard Douglas and his shellshocked teammates leave the field at half time on Friday night. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

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ADELAIDE midfielder Richard Douglas believes the thing that stood out most on a dark night for the Crows against Collingwood on Friday was frittered opportunities.

The Crows were down significantly on contested disposal, turned the ball over in an uncharacteristic manner and were outrun by a Collingwood midfield that streamed in numbers, covered more ground and appeared to play in drier conditions than the Adelaide Oval home side.

But the thing that jumped out at Douglas, who laid an impressive eight tackles but was kept to 14 disposals, was the way the Crows had wasted the ball.

Richard Douglas hunts Magpie Will Hoskin-Elliott. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

It will be among the first things addressed as Adelaide conducts its review and start looking forward to the Swans, who have a midfield equally imposing to that of Collingwood.

“I thought we had our opportunities throughout the night,” Douglas said. “I think we had a reasonable amount of inside-50s (50 to Collingwood’s 58).

“We probably had our fair share throughout the night.

“But they beat us in the air, won the contested ball and got us on the outside spread.

“That was the most disappointing thing.

“We had a few opportunities throughout the night and didn’t take them.

“They took theirs.

“It was a tough night for the boys.

“A bit disappointing.

“We expected their best and that’s certainly what we got.

“Their form has been quite good without getting the results but for us it was really disappointing.

“We got beaten in all facets of the game. They were far too good. Our fans rocked up in the wet tonight and deserved better.”

But Douglas said as much as it hurt it was just one match in a long season.

It was a matter of learning from the loss and move on.

“We’ve got to get better,” Douglas said.

“We’re really being challenged at the moment.

“We’re being hunted by other sides and we’ve got to find a way to rise to the challenge and come to the top.

“At the moment we can’t do that. We’re getting challenged and found short.

“We didn’t play anywhere near our best.”

Douglas refused to blame injuries, saying there was enough depth on the Crows’ list.

He said it was more about and approach and mindset.

“It’s all between the ears,” Douglas said.

“We’ve got to keep working hard, training hard, find ways to get better.

“It’s a great challenge for us again against Sydney on Friday night. We’ll lick our wounds, review it hard and bounce back.

“It’s on the boys to look at it and get better and turn it around within a week and I’m sure we can do that.”