Adelaide will miss senior midfielder Tyson Edwards for another week as they seek to erase the bad habits that re-surfaced under the relentless glare of St Kilda pressure.

Edwards' hamstring strain has not yet healed enough for him to be considered for selection against Port Adelaide, but Nathan van Berlo and Robert Shirley (both ill) should be fit in time.

Their returns should help cover for the hole left by young winger David Mackay (hamstring), but it is attitude that will need to be the most significant change for the Crows following a halting display after quarter-time against the Saints.

Rather than believing in the attacking play that had brought them seven consecutive wins, Adelaide's players reverted to sandbagging and slowing the play, showing captain Simon Goodwin that his men are still some way from fully embracing the aggression required.

"There's no doubt the opposition played a part in it, but I think we fell back into some of our own ways and played a bit of safe footy," Goodwin said on Monday.

"We've made some big improvements in our ability to score and move the ball quickly and that's what we'll go back to.

"It's been really important for us over the last seven or eight weeks and it's been nothing different to what we've been trying to work on throughout the whole pre-season.

"Yesterday showed it's not totally ingrained in the way we go about it yet, so we'll continually train and try to improve in that area until it is ingrained."

Brett Burton's return to the AFL following a knee reconstruction was, with the exception of one early goal assist, decidedly underwhelming.

"I think Brett's come a long way, recovering from a knee reconstruction's not easy, the way he's trained and come back and his first (SANFL) game for the Eagles was outstanding, and he could've have done any more to get selected," Goodwin said in Burton's defence.

"Brett by his own admission certainly wasn't happy with the way he played yesterday, but he's a quality player.

"We've got a lot of belief in Brett and there's no doubt he's just keen to get out and train against and make sure his preparation's right for this week."

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