Adelaide concede their bad slip-up against West Coast at Subiaco has left the gate to the AFL top four open for other teams to bolt through.

The Crows' 50-point defeat to the fledgling Eagles was as out of character as it was damaging, leaving only two points between fourth and fifth and also depriving Adelaide of one of the games the club had surely marked down for the "win" column.

Midfielder Brent Reilly said that in a year when fourth spot would be chased by a large pack of the teams trailing in the wake of Hawthorn, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs, Adelaide's loss to the Eagles was a major blow.

Sydney, North Melbourne, Collingwood and Brisbane will all now fancy their chances of bridging that minimal gap over the next 13 rounds.

"It was a very big opportunity missed," Reilly said on Monday.

"If we had won, it really would've set us up, in the top four, for the year, (but) unfortunately, we didn't win and it puts pressure back on us to go out there and perform the way we want to perform."

Given what was at stake, and that coach Neil Craig had made much of the Crows' need to re-balance a poor recent record against West Coast, Adelaide's off colour effort was puzzling in the extreme.

Reilly, playing his first game back from a broken wrist suffered in round one, struggled to pinpoint the reason other than to say the Eagles were up for a contest.

"It's hard to put your finger on why, but West Coast played very well - every time we got the ball out of a clearance, they were on to us," he said.

"Their time and space clearances compared to ours was a lot different and the way they played was a credit to them.

"I don't think it was complacency.

"We've only won three games in 10 years at Subiaco and we set ourselves to change that stat on Saturday.

"It was very disappointing the way we played, but the positive is that we're not where we want to be, so there is a lot of improvement left in us."

The Crows are not expected to regain any players from injury this week, though forward Trent Hentschel's recovery from his horrific 2006 knee collapse continues apace in the SANFL.

Adelaide have a short week to prepare for their Friday night primetime fixture against Matthew Knights' struggling Essendon line-up and will train under lights at AAMI Stadium on Tuesday.

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