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AAP
Shayne Hope

Crows coach Nicks narrows focus in pursuit of AFL scalp

The Crows looked a despondent crew after their defeat by the Cats at Adelaide Oval. (Matt Turner/AAP PHOTOS)

Matthew Nicks is desperate to claim a big scalp in Adelaide's finals pursuit - just not the sort that first springs to mind.

The Crows have another chance to prove their finals credentials in a round-six home clash with premiership contenders GWS.

And while he would love to knock off the Giants, Nicks has a narrower focus.

"We've got to work on the scores against," he said after Adelaide's disappointing 19-point loss to Geelong on Thursday night.

"That will be a big scalp for us."

The free-scoring Crows are leaking at the other end, giving up an average of 92 points per game in a 3-2 start to the year.

It included a season-worst tally in the 18.11 (119) to 15.10 (100) defeat to the Cats in the Gather Round opener.

"It's a combination of things, unfortunately, otherwise we'd just nail it," Nicks said.

"At the moment we're not really keeping the ball in our front half, so we're spending a bit of time under pressure, and then there's an execution piece to that as well.

"When the game's not necessarily going our way and not on our terms we seem to make poor decisions and/or execution.

"We turned the ball over tonight in some spots where it's just not defendable."

Adelaide have wobbled after opening the season with a three straight wins, but can make a statement against GWS at Adelaide Oval on Saturday next week.

They almost delivered one against Geelong, leading by 30 points during the second quarter and heading into the final term eight points to the good.

But they were overrun when the game was on the line.

"As far as beating a side that's going to be there in September, yeah, we're always going into those games wanting to put on our best performance," Nicks said.

"It looked tonight like we were on track and then we've let ourselves down for a quarter of footy.

"In the end the better team won on the night. They put us away."

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