A raft of injuries to key players and another loss lurched Adelaide's AFL season from bad to worse, as the injury-hit Crows were overrun by Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.

The Crows had only one fit man on the interchange bench at three-quarter time and played the game out with none.

As gallant as Adelaide were to be within two points with three minutes remaining, Melbourne kicked the last two goals and won their first game of the season 7.15 (57) to 5.11 (41).

Adelaide are winless after three rounds and nursing injuries to defenders Nathan Bock (hamstring) and Trent Hentschel (knee) and full-forward Kurt Tippett (ankle), and are waiting to learn how serious Patrick Dangerfield's neck injury is.

Dangerfield landed heavily in a gang-tackle by three Demons in the third quarter, and the 20-year-old forward was carried off the ground in a neck brace and sent to hospital.

He will spend Sunday night under observation, but the Crows were heartened he had feeling in his hands and hopeful he escaped with a strain.

Hentschel is also a concern given his history of knee injuries, but Crows coach Neil Craig thought the 27-year-old had suffered internal bleeding and did not require a reconstruction.

Tippett hobbled off with a rolled ankle midway through the last quarter, which meant the Crows could not rotate any players against a Melbourne side that used its advantage to run hard.

Melbourne had only one goal on the board and trailed by 25 points early in the third quarter, but by the time skipper James McDonald and Nathan Jones kicked goals in the last three minutes, the Demons had booted the last six of the game.

"Who knows?" was Craig's reply when asked if a fit Adelaide side would have won, but he expected the AFL to consider introducing either substitutes or more players on the bench.

"What I do know is the intensity of the game is going up and guys are under huge pressure even early in the year," he said.

"Every week now we're seeing a finals-type intensity in at least one game, if not more.

"It's great for the supporters but we need to consider the people who put the show on."

The tackle laid on Dangerfield by McDonald, Michael Newton and Clint Bartram could be assessed by the match review panel given the AFL announced before the season a crackdown on players driving opponents into the ground.

Craig said he had not seen the tackle.

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey admitted Adelaide's injuries gave his side a big advantage, and said the game would strengthen the push for a bigger bench.

"You've got to take your hat off to them, they hung in there too ... fortunately we fell over (the line)," Bailey said.

Craig praised his players for their fight, which had been lacking in the losses to Fremantle and Sydney.

"If we can play with that sort of spirit and intensity that we played with today, that's what our supporters have been waiting for for two weeks," he said.

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