Adelaide Crows not meeting contested footy standards, says co-captain Taylor Walker

Co-captain Taylor Walker has admitted Adelaide’s forwards aren’t meeting their own contested footy standards as the Crows look to urgently fix its misfiring attack.

• Greenwood defends fun factor
• McDermott: Time for Crows to drop the ‘F’ word
• Moment on Monday: The handball haunting the Crows
• Crows’ attack not working: Hart

Co-captain Taylor Walker has admitted Adelaide’s forwards need to bring a more ferocious attitude as the Crows look to urgently fix their misfiring attack.

A day after assistant coach Ben Hart said the Crows’ forward line “was not working at the moment”, Walker said the one-win Crows were not meeting their own standards.

“There are two things are probably not at the standard that we require at our footy club: That is winning the contested footy and our pressure on the opposition isn’t at the level,” Walker said.

“Our leading patterns and our selfless leads are not at the level, our competition for our big guys is not at the level and we are getting outmarked too much and we are not allowing the ball to hit the ground and pressuring the opposition and in their face.”

Crows co-captain Taylor Walker caught in a Cats sandwich at Adelaide Oval on Thursday. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Walker put the forwards’ woes down to technique and needing to lift their “ferocious attitude”.

“It’s not like we don’t know how to, it is just a matter of doing it for longer and when the pressure is on,” Walker told Triple M’s Roo and Ditts.

“If we get the ball in our first half, we pressure, we contest, we compete and we can play the game in our forward half and put pressure on the opposition. We are not doing that at the moment. Then … we are probably fatigued because we are chasing and skill errors are occurring.”

Highlighting the forward line’s ineffectiveness was midfielder Brad Crouch leading the goalkicking after three rounds with four goals.

On Monday, two-time Crows premiership player Hart said the forward line was “not all gelling”.

“Mixture of skill error, decision making, patterns the forwards are running,” Hart said.

“It is all in the mix, we are thinking what as a team is going to give us the best look and reward for the inside 50s we are getting. It may be the same guys roll around and maybe there are some changes. We have to find that mix, we had it during the pre-season.”

Crows players leave Adelaide Oval after losing to Geelong on Thursday night. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Walker said the Crows “had to be better” and, after an intense session on Monday, were on the way to rectifying the issues ahead of Saturday’s big away test against North Melbourne.

“Lucky we are only round three in and we can do something about our form,” Walker said.

“I’d imagine our fans are getting a little annoyed three games in with our inconsistency and I can tell you so are we, and we are going to do something about it. I’m a bit sick of talking about it.

“We have got no choice but to bring it (on Saturday). Hopefully we will see some change this weekend. Otherwise before we know it will be Round 10 and we will be wondering what could have been.”