ADELAIDE forward Tom Lynch insists the Crows remain on track to be a genuine premiership contender despite a patchy run of form.
The Crows have lost three of their past five games ahead of Friday night's clash with St Kilda at Adelaide Oval.
Yet they remain second on the ladder and only four points behind Greater Western Sydney thanks to a blistering six straight wins to start the season.
"We're 8-3 and we feel like we're in a really good position," Lynch told AFL.com.au.
"We've played some fantastic footy and a couple of games we haven't done so.
"We're going to learn from those games and hopefully that holds us in a better position for the second half of the year.
"It's funny; when we're 6-0, they're telling us we're peaking too early, and now we lose a couple games and they say we're finished.
"We're just looking to improve so come the second half of the year we're in the finals and around the mark."
A 22-point loss to bogey side Geelong last Friday night has increased talk the Crows are vulnerable when put under pressure.
"We've got a really confident group that know they can rebound quickly and put the game on the weekend behind them," Lynch said.
"We're really comfortable that when we play our best footy that we can match it with anyone.
"We've got to move forward pretty quickly and start worrying about St Kilda.
The Crows have a wonderful recent record against the Saints, having won six straight games dating back to round 18, 2011.
Getting on top at the contest will go a long way to putting the Crows back in the winners circle.
The Crows are the No.1 side in the competition in contested possessions this year with 159.3 per game, but had 34 less contested possessions (130-164) than the Cats last Friday night.
"We were poor with our contest work, whether that's contested ball, ground ball and tackles, that's something we really pride ourselves on," Lynch said.
"We were certainly well beaten in those areas, so we're intent on getting back to how we play and what we know best, and that's that contested footy."
Lynch started his career at the Saints, playing six games in three seasons before joining the Crows at the end of 2011.
He has turned into one of the best half-forwards in the competition, and is averaging 19.6 possessions and 7.1 marks per game.
Crows skipper Taylor Walker and fellow key forward Josh Jenkins have attracted criticism for not crashing packs and throwing their weight around.
Lynch challenged those statements, insisting the pair face unfair scrutiny because of their importance to the side.
"Those two in particular have a great ability of winning the contest themselves, or halving the contest and bringing it to ground," Lynch said.
"That's all we ask of all our forwards.
"Because they are such quality players, they get criticised more so and because they are so important to our team."
