ADELAIDE coach Don Pyke insists the top of the table Crows didn't take lowly Hawthorn lightly.

The Hawks were second-last on the ladder with just four wins from 12 games before producing a 14-point victory over the Crows at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.

After winning six straight games to start the season, the Crows have now lost four of their past seven to put more than a wobble in their premiership aspirations.

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Pyke said it was the Crows' failure to execute that proved their downfall rather than a belief they could coast to victory.

"No, I wouldn't have thought, I wouldn't have thought so tonight," Pyke said.

"We understand the quality of Hawthorn, we understand the quality of some of the footy they have played and I didn't sense any of that at all.

"We had a poor night.

"The reality in this competition is if you don't bring and play your fundamentals in a really strong sense and don't play those for four quarters, you're going to be in trouble."

Crows club champion Rory Sloane found more of the ball than he has in previous weeks when he has been tagged by the opposition.

Sloane finished with 23 disposals, but was kept largely in check for most of the game and wasn't as damaging as he had been earlier in the season.

Five talking points: Adelaide v Hawthorn

"He worked against a tag and he'll get better week in, week out," Pyke said.

"I expect in a month's time we won't be talking about it.

"He had 20-plus tonight and I thought he had an impact on the game.

"His work around the clearances (was good) and he was generating some ball for us."

Skipper Taylor Walker was extremely quiet when the game turned in the second half.

Walker had just four disposals after the main break after having eight touches and booting two goals in the first half.

"I think his effort was still strong," Pyke said.

"His numbers might not reflect that, (but) I certainly know Tex at three-quarter time was very vocal with the group, very demanding on the group and led in a strong fashion in that sense."

WATCH: Don Pyke's full post match media conference

The Crows now have nine days to examine what went wrong before they face an improving Carlton outfit at the MCG next Saturday.

"There's some things we learnt tonight," Pyke said.

"We understand if we don't bring those components to our game, we're going to struggle and there are some things we need to add to our game.

"You learn about situations and individuals and that's on-going."

Defender Luke Brown finished the game on the bench after jarring his ankle and is in doubt to face the Blues.