ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson believes the Crows' season is still well and truly alive despite slumping to 5-6 after a humbling 40-point loss to Fremantle on Sunday.
The Crows lie 10th, two games behind seventh on the ladder, after being picked apart by the Dockers in the second half at Patersons Stadium.
Sanderson was still confident his side had plenty at stake heading into the second half of the season.
"The season's not over for us, without question," Sanderson said.
"There is still plenty of fight left in us, there has to be.
"We're 5-6, we're outside the eight. We are as hungry as ever and we're disappointed with the result today, but we will get back to Adelaide, we’ll review the game."
The review won't be pretty. Sanderson made a point of the lack of contribution from his entire team. Fremantle had 145 more disposals than the Crows and 15 more scoring shots. The margin could have been far more severe had the Dockers kicked more accurately.
"We just didn't have enough guys give us anything today," Sanderson said.
"We had seven players have less than 10 touches, which is a third of your team.
"There are no excuses for our team. We just got beaten by the better team.
"They were better around the contest, better outside the contest – 134 more uncontested possessions; you can't win when you let a side have that many uncontested possessions.
"We really let ourselves down today. It's really disappointing for our footy team."
Sanderson was adamant that his side could still compete with the best teams in the competition but he conceded Sunday's result was a fair reflection of where the Crows sit at present.
"Our form has been up and down which has been well documented, but we feel we can still match it with the best sides," Sanderson said.
"We took a lead into half-time, missed a couple of opportunities in the last quarter, but they were the better side today without question."
The Crows need to rebound quickly as they have a difficult month ahead of them. They face North Melbourne, Essendon, and Port Adelaide in a critical three-week stretch that will make or break their season.
