MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey was last night deeply concerned that his players had taken a big step backwards after their sensational come-from-behind win against Fremantle a fortnight ago.

Bailey was expecting a much better effort than the Demons produced yesterday, losing to a highly efficient and polished Adelaide by 76 points at AAMI Stadium.

He kept his players behind closed doors for 40 minutes after the game, and emerged a forlorn figure, lamenting that Melbourne had fallen back into the pattern it had before the Fremantle game.

"We didn't move the ball as well as we would have liked," Bailey said. "It is important for them to have a really good understanding straight after the game of what had let us down.

"Our skills and our decision-making was really poor against the Crows — they make you pay. They are an outstanding counter-attack team and they really hurt us on the turnovers."

Bailey said there was no doubt Melbourne had taken a step back. "I thought we would have been competitive for longer," he said. "But we are playing in patches.

"We examined the Fremantle game … I was expecting us to use the ball better today. We went into our shell. We didn't switch the ball enough and they counter-attacked very well.

"There were signs in there, small snippets of the game, where we actually played well, but you can't do that against a good club. You have got to play well and be competitive for longer than we have been.

"It always gets back to the ability to execute the skill with a good kick and a handball. Those things are critical.

"I thought we started OK. We had some opportunities to put some scoreboard pressure on. Second quarter they got away from us.

"If you look at the ball movement from both teams, they were very clean; crisp. Even when we tackled they were able to get the ball free.

"We need to continue to work on our skill level because that's where it all starts. Our decision-making has been up and down, and that's what let us down," Bailey said.

Adelaide was most impressive, but coach Neil Craig dismissed the notion that the performance was a measure of greatness.

"The best measure of anyone is when you play the best in the competition," Craig said. "Clearly we are not the best in the competition, and Melbourne are not yet the best in the competition. It's pretty clear who are: Geelong, Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs.

"We were really pleased with our group … and (with) the expectation that was around, it was really important … to come out (in the last quarter) with a really fierce and respective attitude, and they did that."

Adelaide expects to regain Brent Reilly (hand), Kris Massie (hamstring tightness) and Richard Douglas (ankle) for the match against West Coast at Subiaco on Saturday night.