Adelaide coach Neil Craig says he's not doubting himself and refuses to believe his club is in rebuilding mode.

Craig's Crows host Gold Coast on Saturday after suffering a 96-point drubbing by Melbourne last start.

The loss came two weeks after Craig declared the current batch of players "the most exciting group I think this club has ever had".

Craig conceded on Friday such public comments raised expectations of the Crows, in 12th spot with two wins - the same amount as Gold Coast.

"Maybe we are our own worst enemy to a certain extent," Craig said.

"My comments about this being an exciting group ... sometimes that gives supporters enormous expectation.

"And when they see a loss like that (last week) they say `give me a break, what is going on here Craig?'."

Craig said he had analysed his methods in the wake of the Melbourne loss.

"You need to reflect and ask questions of yourself, no doubt, I think every coach should do that," he said.

"But no self doubt.

"Is there things I could do better internally, yeah ... but in terms of self doubt, in terms of what we're doing, the way we're doing it, no."

Despite contrary evidence, such as fielding up to ten players with less than 20 games experience, Craig refused to acknowledge the Crows were rebuilding.

"I don't go down that path because I think it gives too many people too many outs," he said.

"If I said to this group `don't worry about this year, you're three years away' I don't know what our supporters would think of that.

"They might say `that is a bit of reality Neil' but if I was a player, I wouldn't want to be told that.

"And sometimes when you say that, that becomes your standard and everything else drops down.

"So I don't believe it and I won't do it, and if that means that more pressure comes back to me, well so be it."

Craig dumped three players including forward Taylor Walker for the AAMI Stadium encounter with a Suns outfit he said were "not the side that people think they are".

"Half their side are going to be experienced AFL players of good quality," Craig said of the Suns.

" ... Underneath that, you could argue, is the best underage talent in Australia, and it makes a really dangerous side.

"They are going to accelerate really quickly."

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