MIDFIELDER Richard Douglas says Adelaide was not hard enough in its attack on the footy in the 26-point loss to Port Adelaide on Saturday night, admitting his side must improve in this area to topple the Western Bulldogs this week.

Douglas won two clearances against Port Adelaide with teammate Tyson Edwards the only Crow to do better (three clearances).

The Power had eight players with three or more clearances to their name, including Peter Burgoyne who amassed eight.

The performance has attracted stinging criticism and Douglas said the players were determined to make amends at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.

“We were smashed at the stoppages and, in particular, the centre bounces, so we’ll work on that and try and improve against the Bulldogs, who are good at that,” Douglas said.

“It just shows what can happen if you’re not hard at the footy. We lost one game of footy and we get a chance to bounce back this week.”

The inexperienced midfield group spent time chatting to the coaching staff during Tuesday morning’s training run.

Douglas said the coaches’ message was one of reinforcement, rather than change.

 “We won’t be trying anything too different (this week),” he said.

“We’ll stick to what we know because when we do it well, it works for us.”

However, there could be a couple of changes in personnel.

Ball magnet Chris Knights should be recalled to the line-up after dominating for Woodville-West Torrens in his return from a fractured eye-socket.

Utility Brad Moran, forward Jarrhan Jacky and ruckman Ivan Maric could also get a look in at the selection table.

Douglas conceded there could be some short-term pain for supporters as the club plans for life after Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards and Brett Burton, but he said the players still had their sights fixed on a finals spot.

“We want to be in the top eight and we’re not there yet, so we’ve got some work to do, but 3-3 isn’t disastrous. Hopefully, a win this week will put us back in the eight.”