The Crows were blown away by Port Adelaide in round one of the NAB Cup and suffered a second-straight defeat on the weekend going down to Collingwood by 22 points in trying conditions in Alice Springs.
The 2009 semi-finalists followed a similar path last February losing to Geelong and West Coast before finally registering their first win against Hawthorn in week three of the competition.
Adelaide has promoted itself as a top-four side this season and Douglas said the players remained confident of achieving that goal, despite an indifferent fortnight.
“It’s early days… two practice matches don’t mean a lot at this stage,” Douglas said on Monday.
“On the weekend we saw a lot of improvement from the game against Port, our mindset was a lot better and our attack on the ball was heaps better.
"We’ve still got things to work on and I think we’re still building towards round one, so hopefully we get better by the week.”
The NAB Cup/Challenge isn’t always a good indication of how a side will fare in the home and away season.
Last year eventual grand finalists St Kilda were bounced out in week one.
Reigning premier Geelong is without victory this summer, but Douglas said the Crows needed a win over the next fortnight to help kick-start the club’s 2010 campaign.
“It’s important [to get a win]. Everyone likes to get a result and it would be nice for the fans as well,” he said.
“Hopefully this week at Elizabeth against Melbourne we can put in a good performance and win.”
Of more concern than Adelaide’s indifferent form is its mounting injury toll.
Young utility James Sellar has joined the growing list of unavailable players after breaking his hand in the loss to Collingwood.
Sellar will see a specialist on Monday to determine whether he’ll require surgery and is expected to miss between four to six weeks.
Best and fairest winner Bernie Vince (hamstring) and ruckman Ivan Maric (back/glute) have already been ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Melbourne, after pulling out of the 29-man-squad to tackle the Pies.
Emerging midfielder Patrick Dangerfield will return to the side having overcome hamstring tightness.
Douglas, 23, is one player hoping to capitalise on the Crows’ unfortunate run with injury.
He was dropped for the semi-final loss to Collingwood last season, but appears ready to make amends after booting four goals as Adelaide’s best player on Saturday night.
“With a few guys missing there’s probably a bit of added responsibility,” he said.
“It was pretty disappointing for me with the way it ended last year.
"I’ve trained hard over the pre-season and am taking a bit of a different approach this year.”
Richard Douglas is a $289,000 forward in this year's Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
