BRENTON Sanderson is frustrated by Adelaide's results but remains confident his side's effort is where it needs to be, to turn its season around at the 11th hour.
Sitting a win out of the eight, the Crows will need a bare minimum of three wins from their final four games to snatch a finals birth.
But that would mean a string of consistent performances, starting on Sunday when they take on the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.
Consistency has eluded the club all year and peaked last week when it dropped a golden opportunity to cement itself in the eight by losing to West Coast by 31 points.
Sanderson said he shared the blame for his side's inconsistency.
"Like with any coach in any industry, we're looking to replicate our best more often," Sanderson said.
"It's frustrating, it's been a real challenge for us as a group this year…the output hasn't matched the effort.
"We've had some poor games full stop, but we've let ourselves down even in some of our really good wins this year [when] we've had a bad quarter.
"When we can't score, we're getting scored against…when we're not on offensively, we can't shut down the opposition.
"I ultimately coach the team and need to get the best out of the boys each week."
Adelaide will have to spark its run home without champion on-baller Scott Thompson, who has been rested due to a hamstring issue.
Thompson has struggled with back-related hamstring tightness for several weeks and the injury forced him out of the club's round 18 win over Collingwood.
Last week Sanderson warned the 31-year-old's fitness would be a week-by-week prospect for the rest of the year and, sticking to his statement, offered no guarantee that Thompson would return next weekend.
"In last week's game [Thompson] was unable to get to top speed," he said.
"He'll train over the weekend and prepare to play against Richmond next week.
"Once again, we'll have to make a decision late next week."
Twitter: @AFL_Harry
