ADELAIDE skipper Nathan van Berlo admits Saturday night's 77-point loss to the Sydney Swans did more than just dent the club's finals aspirations - it hurt its brand.
The decimation was the Crows' worst loss at home in 19 years, when they fell to Hawthorn by 97 points in 1994.
Despite the visitors leading by just three goals at quarter-time, the Swans booted 13 of the next 15 goals to open a huge lead by the final change.
Van Berlo described the effort as uncompetitive and said it struck at the very core of the club.
"We did some damage to the club culture on the weekend, the perception of what our supporters think and what the rest of the competition now think of the Adelaide Crows," van Berlo said.
"Our performance was so far below what we expected of ourselves on the weekend.
"We simply weren't able to compete at the level or sustain any level of competition."
The 27-year-old rated the loss as one of the worst of his 171-game career.
"It definitely was (one of the worst losses) considering the stakes of the game and … not being able to fire a shot to get ourselves back into the game," he said.
"It was a game out there where the players didn't feel like there was a lot we could do – Sydney's pressure to their credit was outstanding."
Sitting a win out of the eight in 10th spot on the ladder even before its bye, Adelaide's season is dangling by a thread.
Van Berlo said next weekend's match against Richmond was not only pivotal to keep the dream of a final eight spot alive, but to also redeem the club for last Saturday's loss.
"I know the character of the players we've got in the group, it'll hurt them deeply from the weekend and I've already spoken to a number of them," he said.
"It's about us training as best we can this week and preparing ourselves for Richmond to make sure we can right those wrongs."
In good news for the club and its supporters, van Berlo declared ruckman Sam Jacobs free of significant injury after he limped off in the game's dying stages.
The captain said Jacobs had nothing more than a "corky" and should be fit to face the Tigers.
He was a little more cautious when it came to the health of Jared Petrenko, who injured the AC joint in his shoulder in a heavy collision with Swans' ruckman Shane Mumford.
Petrenko will be assessed during the week but should he not recover before next weekend, he won't be the only one omitted from the side.
Van Berlo echoed coach Brenton Sanderson's post-match comments that a number of players would be dropped.
"Sando's made it pretty clear there will be some changes from the weekend's game, which has to be the case," he said.
"We've had a number of guys in the SANFL play some good footy for us on the weekend, I know Graham (Johncock) kicked six goals, Brodie Martin, Richard Tambling, Aidan Riley all played solid games.
"Jarryd Lyons, Matty Wright, David Mackay didn't play on the weekend and they're all in good touch for us too.
"There are a lot of guys itching for a crack."
Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.
