Heading into the game, the Crows had notched up consecutive wins over lowly-ranked teams Essendon, Melbourne and West Coast, but had just one top-four scalp - Fremantle in Tyson Edwards’ farewell game - to their name this season.
Adelaide’s shock win over the Cats takes the club to ninth spot on the ladder and just one game out of the top eight, but Craig said it was important the players didn’t get carried away with the performance.
“Those sort of results, and rightly so, give our supporters a lot of joy because of the quality of football they were able to see tonight," he said.
"They would be thinking [about making finals] ... and we don’t shy away from that. Every club wants to go there but we’ve got to make sure we keep our mind on the job about what creates that kind of performance.
“We need to make sure we’re not seduced by that performance. We need some clarity about why [we played well] but not seduction because if you get seduced by it, you can fall over pretty quickly.”
The Cats kicked the opening three goals of the game but the spirited Crows didn’t panic, and majors to Kurt Tippett and Ricky Henderson cut the deficit to just six points at quarter time.
Adelaide’s pressure forced Geelong into uncharacteristic errors and helped the home side to a handy 21-point lead early in the final term.
The Cats surged again late in the last quarter, but a goal to youngster Rory Sloane in the dying minutes secured the win.
Craig said he was impressed by his side’s persistence and attacking mindset.
“We’re talking about one of the greatest sides, if not the greatest side in the history of the competition. Their trademark is that they’ll just keep coming at you and they’ve done it for a long period of time,” he said.
“That’s the way they play their football and they’ve won a lot of games through that characteristic, so there wasn’t any question that they would do it. We were really pleased we were able to stay in the contest ... our guys were fantastic tonight.”
