ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson quickly turned his attention to next week's clash against Essendon as he looks to end his side's roller-coaster form.

 

The Crows' impressive 36-point win over North Melbourne was one of their best performances of the season but continued a worrying trend for the club. 

They have now gone win-loss across the past seven weeks and Sanderson is desperate for that run to come to end against the Bombers next week. 

 

"We celebrated in the rooms for five minutes and then we moved our focus to next week's game against Essendon," Sanderson said.

"We cannot accept the ups and downs anymore."

 

The Crows lifted for Brent Reilly in his 200th game and were also riled by the presence of 120 past players, who would've been thrilled by Adelaide's display.

 

"When we play four quarters we are a very good side." Sanderson said.

"We shouldn't need milestone games or past players to make us play like this."

 

Defender Brodie Smith was best on ground with great bursts of speed from defence, which was topped off with a trademark long goal in the third quarter. 

Patrick Dangerfield and Scott Thompson were dynamic in the midfield and Adelaide's forward line looked very dangerous with Eddie Betts (three goals) kicking one of the goals of the year, Sam Kerridge (four) continuing his love affair with the Kangaroos and James Podsiadly proving a great tall target.

 

"It was a big step forward for our forward line tonight," Sanderson said.

"We were outnumbered on a lot of occasions but won the contests and we also put them under pressure and kept the ball in our forward line."

 

Kicking efficiency is still an issue for the Crows with Sanderson revealing it's their number one focus at training. 

The win evens the ledger at 6-6 and puts them back in touch with the top eight. 

In another boost, the Crows are set to regain a number of key players in the second half of the season.

Brad Crouch has now had two games in the SANFL, Ricky Henderson played his first of the season on Saturday and Tom Lynch will make his return from a broken jaw in the state league next week.