Coach Brenton Sanderson says Adelaide’s season is on the line in Tasmania next weekend.

Despite a disappointing 10-point loss to Richmond on Saturday night, the Crows are clinging to eighth spot on the AFL ladder after other results went their way.

However, it’s only a healthy percentage keeping Adelaide out of 11^th place – the Crows, Tigers, Collingwood and Gold Coast are all stuck in a logjam at the middle of the table on 10 wins.

Sanderson was frustrated his team let another golden opportunity to consolidate a place in the final eight slip against the in-form Tigers.

“It’s so disappointing for us to drop that game. Too many times this year, we’ve had a chance right in front of us to grab and once again tonight we failed to do so,” Sanderson said after the game.

“It is (doing my head in) and our fans too. It’s just been a frustrating season for that. Our best footy is so attractive to watch and enjoyable to play and coach. But we’re not doing it consistently enough.

“For us, our objective is to learn from the mistakes we made tonight and make sure they don’t happen again. North Melbourne are a great side and have had a fantastic season.

“They’re going to be hard to beat in Tasmania next week but that’s our season … that’s how real the situation is for us.”

To this point, none of the teams fighting for seventh or eighth spot have been able to put their place in the top eight beyond doubt.

Sanderson said the challenge for Adelaide and the other sides jostling for those spots was to find the level of consistency displayed by the likes of Hawthorn, the Sydney Swans, Geelong and Fremantle.

“Simplistically, the top four teams are able to play their best footy for longer in game and longer in the season. The sides sort of from fifth to 12^th are still looking for consistency and it’s really frustrating,” he said.

“We’re working on it and spending hours teaching our players, reviewing games and putting them in match simulation drills to replicate (the situations) we saw tonight.

“It’s the ability to be able to execute at critical times – that’s what the good sides do consistently well and what the sides outside of the top four are probably learning to do.

“Unfortunately, when we hit the front late we weren’t able to have the poise required or the ability to go ahead and win by six points or kick another goal and win by 10-12 points. We have to keep teaching those moments in games.

“That’s the fifth game this year we’ve lost by two goals (or less), so we need to get better at those close ones. We need the ability to be calm and poised and get a few mark chains to kill the game. We became a bit rushed when we hit the front.”

It wasn’t only the final few minutes that hurt Adelaide on Saturday night.

The home team conceded three goals in the opening seven minutes of the game and trailed by as much as 25 points in the third quarter.

“Richmond jumped us out of the blocks and that’s happening too many times this year where we give up a start. We couldn’t touch the ball for the first 15 minutes of the game. It felt like we were always three goals behind,” Sanderson said.

“We almost pinched it, but I think everyone would agree that Richmond was the better side tonight. They played the better footy over four quarters.

“It’s almost like we played our best footy when we felt we couldn’t win. Our attack was better in the last quarter. Defensively, we let ourselves down with some poor plays late in the game.

“We sometimes take too much risk with the footy that we open ourselves up defensively. We put our defenders under too much pressure tonight.”

Sanderson also lamented his team’s ability to adapt to the slippery conditions.

“It was always double take, leaving the ball behind or we went to ground too easy. Richmond were a lot classier than us around the contest,” he said.

“They were sharper, cleaner and were able to spread with better method. We gave them far too much space. We panicked with the ball a bit with the conditions. They handled the conditions better than us.”

The Crows lost wingman David Mackay to injury in the third quarter. Mackay was taken off on a stretcher after a nasty head clash with Tiger Anthony Miles. He sustained a concussion and will be assessed during the week ahead of Adelaide’s trip to Hobart on Friday.