JED ADCOCK says he and his Brisbane Lions teammates can learn from the way Adelaide turns defence into attack, in the wake of Saturday night's 31-point loss to the Crows at the Gabba.

In a strange irony on an evening when Leigh Matthews identified slower kick-ins as a key difference between the Lions and Crows, designated kicker Adcock was his side's best player.

Adcock finished with 30 possessions, four inside 50s and four rebounds from the defensive 50m, but agreed with his coach's assessment that the Lions could sometimes benefit from the more direct approach taken by Adelaide.

"I think we do have to take the bit between our teeth, bring the ball back towards the middle of the ground sometimes and take the opposition on," Adcock said.

"With our kicking in, we probably use wide targets a fair bit, whereas the Crows were able to pin-point guys down the middle, which helped them break the game open. We probably need to work on backing our disposal skills - if you mess up, you mess up, but at least you'll go down trying.

"There are times when we need to run and handball, link up and then kick it over (the opposition's) spare defenders who are dropping back. Last week we were pretty good at that but Adelaide were much better than we were tonight."

The 21-year-old also agreed with Matthews' view that the Crows deserved their victory and were simply the superior team on the night.

"We'd come off a couple of good weeks and we were confident coming in but they played better than us in every aspect of the game," Adcock conceded.

"They moved the ball better than us, they kicked better than us, they handballed better than us and they tackled better than us.

"We had 19 clanger kicks and 17 clanger handballs and we couldn't kick a goal as well."

Adcock is likely to have another important defensive role next weekend against Essendon, particularly with crumbers like Alwyn Davey at Kevin Sheedy's disposal. Barring unforeseen circumstances, he'll take his games tally for the year to eight - the same amount he managed in an injury-wracked 2006.

"I'm happy just being out on the park at the moment because last year was shocking. But I had a really good pre-season this year and I probably only missed two sessions," he explained.

"Essendon will be very tough opposition. They have a really potent forward line and good midfield, plus Mal [Michael] there as well now at full-back. Obviously we have to stop Lloyd and Lucas and then they've also got little Alwyn Davey who has been running circles round everyone - hopefully he's not my opponent! "

"It's another tough game but a seven-day break going in will be good,” he added.