Unable to play the game they wanted to against a revved up Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, Richmond were reduced at times to the roles of spectators.

Tigers coach Terry Wallace said his players had been guilty of showing the Crows - and 300-gamer Andrew McLeod in particular - too much courtesy.

"I thought they were extremely generous (to McLeod)," Wallace said.

"At one stage one of our players was standing 20m away from him and I asked why you would actually allow Andrew McLeod to stand on a halfback flank by himself at that particular point.

"That's what happens when you start worrying about what the scoreboard says rather than just playing. Sometimes that switches the brain off, which is not great in any standard of footy."

The afternoon was instructive to Wallace in showing how the Tigers must develop more conviction about the style they want to play, rather than getting sidetracked by a slow start.

"We wanted to get the ball in as quick as we possibly could, their ability to hold their structure defensively was very good early," he said.

"Our inability to engage their defenders was very poor and the times we did get it in we were outnumbered.

"We still clearly at the moment haven't been able to get our game structure going and our style going against the better sides in the competition and probably the sides who've played a bit of finals footy.

"What you need to be able to do is either stand up and have your structure stand up, or be able to fight out a really dour one-on-one struggle when conditions were like today."

As for finals, Wallace admitted the Tigers' fate was now in the hands of other sides.

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