ADELAIDE coach Matthew Nicks says his side's habit of falling behind early is quickly turning into a serious concern.

The Crows were comprehensively outplayed early in their Good Friday clash with Fremantle, finishing the first quarter with a disposal differential of -38, trailing by 12 in contested possessions, and conceding the opening eight clearances of the match.

It continues a concerning pattern for the Crows, with sluggish starts proving costly throughout the opening month of the season where they have had to play catch-up against Geelong and the Western Bulldogs.

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"It was almost deja vu, wasn't it - three weeks now," Nicks said.

"What we're pretty clear on is we cant allow our oppo to have the game on their terms like we're allowing in the first half, so we're working our way through the 'why', going over the difference between when we're allowing that and when we're not and it's pretty clear, but the ability to execute it is the most frustrating bit at the moment, it's making us really angry that we're not able to get it done for four quarters.

"So when you play really good sides which we've done for a month, you get what you deserve.

"We got smashed in the contest. There's the ability to direct your focus and get it done and we're not doing that at the moment in really critical moments, and you give sides like Fremantle that sort of start, well, good luck and unfortunately we've found ourselves on the wrong end of it."

Nicks said the issue wasn't necessarily a lack of understanding, but an inability to consistently apply it under pressure.

He pointed to lapses in focus and intensity around the contest as the key factors behind their slow starts.

"I think we know the 'why' but it's then the ability to go out and fix the why," he said.

"It's simple. It's hard to be in a contest from five metres away, so for whatever reason our focus isn't where it needs to be in those key moments.

"And credit to our opposition, led by (Andrew) Brayshaw and (Caleb) Serong and others, they're too good for you to give that sort of space and they were very sharp early and we weren't.

"We're good enough, and we're batting deep at the moment and we've got some guys not out there, but we're good enough and we're letting ourselves down, it's on us at the moment."

The Crows were dealt a big blow before the game, with star forward Darcy Fogarty and important midfielder Isaac Cumming ruled out.

Fogarty failed to complete the Crows' match-eve training session on Thursday, leaving the track early to receive treatment on a sore back. Although he was initially named when teams were announced later that night, he was withdrawn prior to the match.

Cumming, who joined the club as a free agent ahead of last season, was sidelined with a virus. 

The Crows also lost forward Luke Pedlar in the fourth term after a collision with Docker Andrew Brayshaw saw him stretchered off the field.

"It's been a challenging month," Nicks said.

"We've had a few things just pop up, small niggles here and there with a number of guys, and that cohesion is really important. To play 23 guys consistently, the connection that builds there and the trust and the knowing where someone is going to be, we've been challenged in that space.

"Even tonight we had a couple going out late ... you sort of start to look at it and go 'Oh, not another one' but that’s part of what we're talking about with the depth of our squad, that we believe we have the depth there to compete and we still believe we do."

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said his side had braced for Adelaide's fightback after jumping out to an early lead, and while the Dockers did let that advantage slip, he felt they responded well in the moment to steady and get the job done.

He said the momentum shift tested his side, particularly with the hostile Adelaide crowd roaring to life, but said their response showed growth.

"We knew they were going to challenge us at some stage," he said.

"The crowd probably had an effect, it can feel a little bit suffocating when you get stuck in your back 50 here and we just succumbed to that field position pressure.

"Once we coughed up the lead I thought we handled that period of the game really well. We had a bit more composure than what we did down in Geelong (in round one) when we coughed up the lead which is hard to do away from home, crowd against us, I thought we had some big plays ... and got a bit lucky late.

"I felt like we probably held on not through system and method but through desperation late, so we've got some work to do there but its easier to take those lessons with the win."