ESSENDON champion Matthew Lloyd has already ruled out an Adelaide premiership in 2026 after last year's minor premier suffered its fourth loss of the season.

Crows coach Matthew Nicks was at a loss on Sunday afternoon to explain his side's 52-point thrashing at the hands of Brisbane, which dropped them below Port Adelaide on the ladder ahead of Friday night's Showdown at Adelaide Oval.

With losses already this year to Geelong, Fremantle, the Western Bulldogs and the Lions, coming after consecutive finals defeats at the end of 2025, Lloyd says the Crows simply cannot match the best teams in the competition.

"I'm ready to put a line through them in terms of winning a premiership," Lloyd said on AFL.com.au's Access on Monday.

"They just continually fail against the better sides.

"They've lost to Geelong, Fremantle, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane. They've lost to four contenders in the space of seven weeks. They just don't have enough weaponry at their disposal.

"(Izak) Rankine's a highlight reel, (Josh) Rachele is a highlight reel, (Jordan) Dawson is a very good player and has been through a lot. I just don't think they have the top end players who perform week after week.

"They fail in big moments. Even though they're tight losses, it's a consistent theme."

While the Crows won 18 games last season to finish on top at the end of the home and away season, their record against the best teams in the competition was middling. They had a 5-7 record in 2025 against teams that played finals, and are 1-4 this year against teams currently in the top 10.

On Sunday, Nicks conceded his side had been "beaten up" by the benchmark of the competition.

"We're just really gutted in a performance that's just not the standard," he said.

"We pride ourselves on being better than that, and tonight we were beaten up.

"It wasn't out of nowhere. They've won the last two premierships, we knew we were coming across to a big, big challenge.

"They were very good. They dominated us in the contest – our stoppage was minus 1000 metres, so when you get that sort of number coming through, you're in a bit of trouble.

"We were probably a bit lucky to hang in there for the first half, then the floodgates opened."