BRENTON Sanderson gives himself a C-grade as an AFL coach, and says he's feeling the void left by the suspension of mentor Dean Bailey from the coaches box.
Bailey, the ex-Melbourne coach, is suspended until round 16 for his role in the Demons' 2009 tanking scandal.
In his second year as the Crows' strategy coach, Bailey was found guilty of conduct prejudicial to the AFL's interest and banned from any match-day role.
"I would love to have Dean in the back of the box as well, with his senior coaching experience and his knowledge," second-year coach Sanderson said on Wednesday.
"He is working really hard with us during the week as a coaching group.
"But his inability to do any coaching with players has been a real challenge for us.
"We have to get on with it. Round 16 he is back. But in the meantime he's working hard behind the scenes to ensure we're getting better as a coaching group."
Sanderson has also worked without chief executive Steven Trigg, banned six months for his part in Kurt Tippett's illegal dealings.
And Sanderson's football operations manager Phil Harper returned in March from his two-month ban for his role in Tippett's 2009 contract extension with the Crows.
Sanderson said he gave himself a "C-grade" as coach this year.
"I am pretty hard on myself too and I look for ways to keep getting better. And sometimes we just look at wins and losses as a measure of success," he said.
"But I feel like we are coaching well as a group."
Sanderson gave his seventh-placed players a "C-plus" grade for their five wins and four losses.
"When you look at Geelong, Hawthorn, Essendon, Sydney, Fremantle: those five sides are the real standouts," he said.
"Then it's a bit of a log-jam I reckon between probably six down to 12, some sides which have had some issues with injuries and inconsistency."
Sanderson blamed inexperience for his side's up-and-down year, noting last week's side was the fourth youngest team in the League.
"I don't agree with the term rebuilding, you will never hear that from me," he said.
"We are still trying to win games while exposing our youth to AFL intensity. We are forever rebuilding but we don't call it that, we call it list management."
