Adelaide coach Neil Craig has an attitude problem. Not personally, but with his players.

But Craig maintains his Crows will still challenge the upper echelon of the AFL this premiership season despite their pre-season drubbing to arch rivals Port Adelaide.

Craig was bewildered after watching Adelaide – touted as a premiership prospect – crash to a 56-point defeat to Port at AAMI Stadium on Saturday in a NAB Cup opener.

“The only positive we take out of it, that it’s not for four (premiership) points,” Craig said.

“And we get a very strong reminder that if we serve up that sort of effort, if any team in the AFL serves up that effort, you will finish bottom.

“The reasons why – I don’t know.

“You will go around in cirlces finding out why, I’m more interested in how we are going to address it and get rid of it.

“You can also argue you need to know why so you can pick the times when it starts to surface again, I don’t want to be flippant about that.

“Whether it’s seduction about where we think we are at the moment, and I still believe that we have a squad here … if we get this part of our game in order, we are ready to challenge for higher places on the premiership table.

“But this is a step backwards.”

Craig was alarmed by Adelaide’s “lack of thirst for competition” against a Port outfit which admits they are redeveloping after lean years.

He also scotched suggestions the Crows, now consigned to the regional practice match circuit, didn’t treat the pre-season competition seriously.

“Great organisations don’t waste time, and you could argue we have wasted a really important occasion for us,” he said.

“We have got to make sure that the positives we get out of this are a very strong reminder: at this level of Australian footy there is no way around the combative nature of it.

“Our agenda was to stay in the competition, let’s not make out that it wasn’t.”

The Crows mentor was adamant the problem was attitude, not personnel.

“You have got to have a large degree of relisience at this high level of sport,” Craig said.

“Our group are a resilient group.

“I’d be disappointed if this loss dents their so-called confidence.

“Your confidence only gets dented when you don’t know what you are doing and you can’t see a way out of it – that won’t be an issue.”

© AAP 2012

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