'If they were a racehorse, you'd put them out for a spell': Greats ...

Adelaide’s season is in freefall after four games – and the fall from grace has left several former AFL stars stunned.

The Crows in Thursday night’s Gather Round opener slumped to their fourth straight loss, with the Demons withstanding a late Adelaide rally to claim a 15-point win and extend the host’s winless start to the season.

In the corresponding fixture last season, the barnstorming Crows kicked off Gather Round with a stunning eight-goal first-quarter blitz and went on to kick 18 majors in a 56-point thrashing of Carlton. Ultimately, the Crows finished the season as the league’s highest-scoring team and were stiff not to play finals.

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Five rounds into 2024 and the Crows are a shadow of their former self, averaging six goals less per game than last year.

“The story for me is the Adelaide Crows,” dual premiership Kangaroo David King told Fox Footy post-match. “What has happened to the Adelaide Crows in one off-season?

“If they were a racehorse, you’d put them out for a spell. They just haven’t come up for this preparation.

Jordan Dawson of the Crows. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

“You start talking about their game plan. Is it the system? Is it the personnel? What’s missing? Because they’re not the powerful, punishing team of 2024 as they were last year.

“I’m looking at their offence, really, and ability to punish – and at the moment they can’t do that … they can’t get any fluency.

“There’s a gap somewhere. I don’t know if it’s talent or not.”

The Crows had 48 inside 50s to Melbourne’s 52 on Thursday night but managed just eight goals, while they had an inside 50 kick retention percentage of 33 per cent.

“They’re just not selecting the right options or at the right speed or have the patience to scan (the field). They just cost you easy goals,” King said.

“I don’t know whether it’s a decision-making or a skill problem, but either way they’re just not hard to play against at the moment.”

Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall added: “I don’t care what the game plan is – if you’re butchering the footy, no game plan will stack up.

“They can’t hit targets. There’s only two or three blokes that you trust with the footy and the others you don’t. Unless you start recruiting some players that can kick the ball, it’s not going to change. Across half-back and through the midfield, they need some genuine class. They’ve got a lot of 'tryers' and good, honest toilers – and I don’t mean that in a negative way – but you’ve got to have the cream around it to actually get the job done.

Crows players look dejected after a loss. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

“This is why I feel for Matty Nicks … it’s hard to coach around skill levels like that.”

St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna questioned whether there was “an overrating of their list and the talent” last year.

“Maybe you look back and the talent at the top-end was Taylor Walker, Jordan Dawson – those guys had really good years. You wonder whether that covered the cracks of these other players, because now when they need some others to stand up without Jordan Dawson and Taylor Walker being at their absolute best form, there’s probably just not enough there,” he told Fox Footy.

Dunstall added: “It looks like as a team they overperformed last year now and it’s hard to get back to that level.”