HOW THINGS can change in just one weekend of football.

This time last week we were singing the praises of our beloved Doggies after they used their fluent, pacy skills to send the Cats back to Geelong with their tails dragging on the ground.

Now we are standing around the water-cooler, pondering just how the Crows were not only allowed to leave the state of South Australia, but how they got on top, stayed on top, and left on top last Sunday evening at the MCG.

How does it happen, one might ask? Well, for starters, the Crows were given an insight into our secret weapon Brad Johnson, and actually assigned him a defender who wore him like a glove and kept him to only two goals.

Nathan Bassett may have done well to keep the tough skipper to such minimal impact, but he did have an idea of what to expect having seen Johnno tear apart Tom Harley and Matthew Scarlett the week before. And he wore him like a glove.

There are even rumours circulating that Johnno had to redirect Bassett to the Crows' team bus after he tried to climb to climb into the back seat of our great captain's car after the match.

It also didn't help that Adelaide's forwards finally decided to find the big sticks, and managed to share eight goals evenly between Nathan Bock and Scott Welsh. Brian Harris and Chris Grant have never been missed as much.

The combination of Andrew McLeod, Simon Goodwin and Tyson Edwards banding together for almost 100 possession didn't help, nor did the fact our defensive brigade – usually so confident in exercising its skill and precision – had only one stand-out performer.

Jordan McMahon was our knight in shining armour, and while the presence of young gun Shaun Higgins was certainly felt, it shouldn't be left up to these two to carry a side full of players producing mediocre performances.

It was good to see Luke Darcy and Robert Murphy escape unscathed again – not so good to see our boom recruit in Jason Akermanis limp from the ground (in his 250th match) clutching his hamstring and wondering just when he'll take to the field again.

Did they believe their own hype and publicity? That seems to be the general consensus, and even Rocket suggested players are just that – players – and cannot be trained to perform at a consistent rate, week in, week out.

Adam Cooney doesn't think so, and attributes the loss to a soft week on the track after demolishing Geelong rather than anything psychological.

All I can say is, for whatever reason it occurred, it's better to get these types of hits out the way early, rather than have them clutter up the business end of the season where four points can be worth much, much more.

Take it as a reality check, boys. Things aren't going to evolve like they did against the Cats every week. Work at it, and get back to the fleet-footed style of play that had us "woofing" in round one.

This week, we'll get back Harris, who will come in handy against St Kilda's man mountain in Fraser Gehrig. With the plethora of dangerous forwards the Saints have roaming the 50, we're going to need an improved effort from our army of backmen.

The Saints are a chance to be hot, on the back of their loss to Brisbane, and will certainly be well rested after their nine-day break.Let's shelve any degree of complacency that hampered us last week, and hit the track hard ahead of our Rivalry Round clash with the Saints – and send them marching home.