WHAT'S gone wrong at Adelaide?

Two rounds into the second season of the NAB AFL Women’s competition, the reigning premier is languishing winless at the bottom of the ladder.

The Crows will have to win their five remaining matches to have a shot at qualifying for the Grand Final, with Carlton, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs already two games clear of them.

Two losses to start the season would barely raise eyebrows in a normal-length season, but the truncated nature of AFLW means every match carries a high level of importance.

A piece investigating "what's gone wrong" after two weeks may seem like an overreaction, but Adelaide needs to address its issues immediately if it has any hope of playing on the last Saturday in March.

At the start of the season, Champion Data released its first AFLW player rankings.

The Crows had six players – Erin Phillips, Sarah Perkins, Ebony Marinoff, Chelsea Randall, Courtney Cramey and Abbey Holmes – ranked elite or above average, a number which was middle of the range among the eight AFLW team lists.

They also had 11 players ranked below average or poor, the most of any club.

Of those six elite/above average players, two – Phillips and Cramey – have yet to take the field, battling quad and hamstring injuries respectively. Holmes missed the season-opener with a knee injury.

Marinoff and Randall have had strong starts to the season, both averaging 17.5 disposals a game, up on their 2017 outputs (16 and 14.1, respectively). Marinoff's tackle numbers have dipped slightly, but her average clearances have risen from three to six.

Perkins has had a nightmare start to 2018. She has yet to hit the scoreboard after kicking 11 goals in eight matches last year.

She has previously struggled against Brisbane's Leah Kaslar, her opponent in round one, but was then well-beaten by Laura Duryea against Melbourne.

The 24-year-old has had only four disposals in two matches, taken one mark and laid four tackles.

But half of Perkins' struggles stem from the fact the ball just isn't getting to her, as coach Bec Goddard lamented this week.

Adelaide had the most inside-50s last season (33 per match). This year, it has had the fewest, just 19 a game.

The effect of the loss of on-baller Phillips has had on Adelaide's inside-50 woes cannot be understated.

The competition’s inaugural best and fairest averaged 20 disposals, five clearances, 4.6 inside-50s and 1.3 goals a match. It should be remembered Phillips recorded these impressive numbers in matches lasting just over 60 minutes.

She also drew (and customarily beat) the opposition’s strongest opponent. Marinoff has had to deal with that scenario in the opening fortnight.

Adelaide has been choosing (or has been forced by the way Brisbane and Melbourne set up) to kick the ball a lot.

The Crows' kick-to-handball ratio is 3.1:1, the highest in the competition. Combined with their disposal efficiency rate of 49.1 per cent, the lowest in the competition, and it's easy to see why Bianca Jakobsson's intercept marking was such a thorn in the Crows' side last week.

The loss of Heather Anderson across half-back – she was not re-signed after struggling to recover from her second major shoulder injury – combined with Cramey's absence, has left the Adelaide defence floundering.

Sarah Allan has had to play as a key defender, while Talia Radan's influence on matches has waned to the extent she was omitted on Thursday night.

Randall has had to split her time between defence and the midfield, attempting to cover the holes left by Cramey and Phillips, and has not been able to perform her usual role as the general in defence.

It's not going to get easier for the Crows, either. Phillips was named for her first match of the season, but Cramey is still battling her hamstring injury.

And at a time when the side desperately needs leadership, vice-captain Angela Foley will be missing after she accepted a one-match suspension for kneeing Daisy Pearce last weekend.

With no wriggle room, the Crows need to produce the hard, uncompromising style they displayed most of last year if they’re to get their season going against the undefeated Bulldogs.