Brodie Smith slams Crows’ performance as club left searching for answers following Collingwood blowout

Bitterly disappointed Adelaide defender Brodie Smith says the Crows’ terrible loss to Collingwood on Saturday was so bad that it was ‘hard to come to terms with’.

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Brodie Smith has labelled the Crows’ disastrous loss to Collingwood as “totally unacceptable’’.

Lamenting a wasted opportunity to stay in control of its finals destiny, the experienced Smith said the Adelaide players were feeling the fans’ pain and that what they dished up in losing to the Magpies by 11 goals at Adelaide Oval on Saturday was so bad that it was “hard to come to terms with’’.

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Brodie Smith handballs in front of Collingwood opponent Josh Thomas. Picture SARAH REED

“We thought after last week (a brave 10-point loss to premier West Coast in Perth) that we had turned the corner, we played a really good game of footy without getting the result,’’ he said in an eerily quiet Crows changerooms after the game.

“And then, with our season on the line, to dish that performance up was totally unacceptable.

“The rooms are not a nice place to be because that performance was terrible and there is a lot of disappointment.’’

Smith was at a loss to explain why Adelaide had played so poorly with so much at stake.

He said the effort was there but that the execution was not and that the Crows turned the ball over so frequently that it made them powerless to stop Collingwood on the rebound.

“Our skill errors killed us,’’ said Smith, who was one of the few Crows who could walk away from the game with his head held high, finishing with 29 disposals and 571 metres gained.

“We probably kicked the ball to them more than we kicked it to ourselves, which is never going to get you the result you want.

“They were pretty good in defence and shut us down pretty well and made it hard for us to move the ball but we have to do better than what we did.’’

Gutted Crows players leave the field after their Collingwood horror show at Adelaide Oval. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Adelaide kicked at 69 per cent efficiency in the second half to the Magpies’ 82 per cent and has now lost six of its past eight games to leave its finals hopes hanging by a thread.

Smith said that while the Crows have now put themselves in the unfortunate position of having to rely on other results to go their way to play in September, their focus in the lead-up to Sunday’s clash against the Western Bulldogs at Ballarat would be solely on preparing to produce their best football in the “Golden City’’.

“We’ve got an eight-day break going into that game, so we’ll first review what went wrong against Collingwood and then move on to next week,’’ he said.

“Obviously we have to rely on other results now, which is never nice, but hopefully they go our way and it gives us a chance still to make it.

“Regardless, we’ve just got to go to Ballarat, put our best foot forward and hopefully get the result.’’