The Crows fell one kick short of reaching a preliminary final in 2009, but any hopes of September success this year were dashed when they lost their opening six games.
Adelaide rallied in the second half of the season, winning seven of its last 12 games but it wasn't enough to prevent the club from recording its worst finish (11th) under Craig.
The Crows' disastrous season was compounded by the retirements of champions Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards and Brett Burton and All-Australian centre half-back Nathan Bock's defection to Gold Coast.
Far from making any bold top-four predictions for next season, Craig said Adelaide's first challenge would be to regain touch with the top eight.
"We under-performed as a team," Craig said on Wednesday. "We need to get ourselves back into a position where we can quite clearly challenge again for the top four. We're not there and we've lost ground.
"The group that we have had in the past and the current players we have all have a great work ethic… and they look forward to the challenge.
"There's a lot to look forward to, but we're very realistic that we have dropped off the pace and need to improve pretty quickly."
Adelaide's disappointing 11th-placed finish also contributed to the club posting an operating deficit of $882,130 - its first financial loss in 20 years in the competition.
The extent of the deficit was exacerbated by the depreciation expense of the Crows' new $21 million training facility and also a worrying rise in injury payments, which spiked from $200,000 in 2009 to close to $500,000 this year.
The devastating financial and on-field effect of the heavy injury toll prompted the fitness staff to make changes to the pre-season training program.
Craig said the team also had a responsibility to help improve the club's bottom line with better performances next year.
"We have an obligation to put a performance on the field that our supporters want to belong to…a 0-6 [start] is not what we want," Craig said.
"We dropped away from our end of the bargain, as far as the football club was concerned and the injury payment this year was probably an AFL record, so we need to address that just from a financial point of view.
"The playing side of the football club has a huge responsibility in terms of the financial aspect and crowd attendance. We accept that and we need to rebound and rebound quickly."
