ADELAIDE coach Phil Walsh has blamed his side's poor kicking for the 11-point loss to Fremantle on Saturday night.

The Crows matched it with the undefeated Dockers for the majority of the match but failed to kick a goal in the last term and finished the match with seven goals from 22 scoring shots.

Captain Taylor Walker was particularly wasteful in front of goal with just three behinds to his name.

"They should be kicked by people at this standard," Walsh said. 

"Put it simply we kicked 2.8 from set shots.

"I don't like losing; our guys gave a good enough effort to win the game, so [I'm] extremely disappointed.

"I learnt for three quarters we can match it with a really good team.

"If you want to beat the really strong teams, really hardened teams, you need weight of numbers and we didn't have that tonight."

WATCH: Phil Walsh's full post-match media conference

Patrick Dangerfield was by far Adelaide's best with an outstanding performance, which included 38 possessions (29 contested), nine clearances, eight tackles and a goal.

He went head-to-head with Brownlow favourite Nat Fyfe in one of the most enthralling battles of the season as neither coach opted to switch a tagger to either one of their superstars. 

"I also think we have to protect the game and I think fans love great battles," Walsh said. 

"I think everyone walking away from the game would've been talking about Fyfe v Dangerfield." 

The Crows trailed by just four points at the final change, but the final term was dominated by the Dockers as they went inside 50 19 times on the back of 20 hit-outs from Aaron Sandilands, who had a record-breaking 69 for the match.

"I felt in the last quarter that did give them field position that ultimately gave them the win," Walsh said.

While disappointed with Saturday night's loss, Walsh was extremely happy with his side's contested ball (188-151) and tackles (88-71).

"The key elements are there, to win the ground balls, to win the tackles against a team I rate really highly, that's great affirmation of what we're doing at this footy club," Walsh said.

"The foundations are being laid here for a style of play that will stand up in finals."