CROWS coach Neil Craig says Saturday night's four-point loss to Hawthorn proves his side is "not quite good enough" to overcome the league's best teams.

A visibly disappointed Craig lamented the missed opportunities, particularly in front of goal, that he believed cost Adelaide the thrilling game at AAMI Stadium.

The Crows showed significant improvement on their first clash with Hawthorn this season and led for all but 12 minutes of the game, but were undone by a handful of costly execution errors.

"Our effort this week against Hawthorn compared to the one in Launceston in round four was like chalk and cheese," Craig said.

"But when the crunch really came, there were just a couple of things we couldn't do and, until we tidy that up, they will continue to get us."

Skipper Simon Goodwin missed an open shot on goal early in the final quarter, which would've put the home side nine points clear. Youngster Kurt Tippett also missed a shot from 20m out straight in front and Luke Jericho and Scott Thompson both finished with two behinds to their name.

"It was a tough game of footy. It was a real finals-type pressure from both sides and once again we learned that at crucial times you have to take your chances in those really tight games," Craig said.

"They were just a bit better than us on the night."

Craig backed his decision not to use Nathan Bock in the midfield on Lance Franklin during the final quarter and, unlike Alistair Clarkson, did not believe the move determined the outcome of the game.

He also rationalised the decision not to man up the Hawks players at the 22-minute mark when the visitors hit the lead.

"The supporters would say, 'How can that [players get free] happen?' And 'why don't you go and man up?' but it's a really difficult exercise. We've done it to other sides and they've done it to us. There's a huge organisation aspect to it," Craig said.

"It's not an excuse, but what I would say to our supporters, is that it's much more difficult than what it looks.

"We would like to do it better, but we've got a lot of players out there at the moment who have given their absolute everything from a physical point of view and now we're asking them in the last two minutes to play like a 100-game player.

"It's not an excuse or an out, but it's where we're at, which means that we're not quite good enough."

Craig praised his team's ball movement and also the defence, which held Hawthorn to 11 goals including just one to Lance Franklin.

"I thought our defensive action all night was really good and not just our back six, but they did do a really good job," he said.

"I thought the way we played Hawthorn, with the way we decided to play them, was a real positive for us even though we didn't get the result.

"[Our effort] up against a side that is AFL-renowned in the centre square is an outstanding result for us. There were just a couple of opportunities that you would expect to happen at AFL level and we weren't able to do it."

Defender Nathan Bassett was taken to hospital for precautionary scans on his neck and Brent Reilly was a late withdrawal from the game with an adductor injury.