KUWARNA has been its own worst enemy when it comes to putting opposition teams away this year.
On Friday it dropped its third game of the season – the second despite recording more scoring shots than its opponent – and now is a real chance of dropping out of the top four.
"These are the match-ups that, if you're the Crows, you've circled this one as like, this is a litmus test," Lucy Watkin said on Credit to the Girls.
"They weren't hard shots at goal. They weren't coming in from 50, from the boundary. They weren't shallow entries from 45. These were marks getting taken within that perfect 30 metres area, slight angles.
"Set shot kicking just really let them down."
The Crows kicked 4.9 (33) against North Melbourne on Friday, ultimately falling by eight points. Chelsea Randall (three behinds) and Danielle Ponter (three goals, two behinds) were the biggest culprits on the day, but it has been a broader problem for the club this year.
"They had nine marks inside 50, which usually is a pretty good indicator of a team playing really well, that's making opportunities that can win, and they just squandered them," Watkin said.
"In our preview for the Crows, I remember saying if Danielle Ponter doesn't kick three goals, if Caitlin Gould doesn't pop up and kick three goals, and they don't have Eloise Jones, if those players aren't popping up and kicking those goals, who is that player inside the forward half (for) Adelaide who's taking the game by the scruff of the neck?"
Early in the season it wasn't as much of a concern, with 53 per cent of its scores converted for goals between weeks one and five, but this number has dropped to 42.3 per cent since then.
There is a direct correlation from here to the club's win rate, with it going from 80 per cent in the early half of the season, to 60 per cent in the time since.
The concern is that something so simple could result in a banana skin run through finals. The club is coming off its longest stretch without reaching a Grand Final since the AFLW began – two seasons – and last year fell to North Melbourne by one point in the preliminary final.
"Their challenge now is to put it together for three or four weeks in a finals series," guest co-host Dylan Bolch said.
"They missed out last year in a prelim, I think that's the challenge for (coach Matthew) Clarke and the Crows this year."
