ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson has issued a stern reminder to his players after Friday night's four-point win over St Kilda, declaring the Crows aren't ready for what he called "Hollywood" football.

The Crows looked set for a convincing win when their lead blew out to 33 points early in the final quarter, but the home side lost the momentum and, very nearly, the game as the Saints stormed home.

Sanderson said that while his players were instructed to back themselves, they went too far on too many occasions.

"I did tell the boys to take a risk tonight, but we probably did at times look to hit the impossible one," Sanderson said.

"Behind closed doors we talk about the difference between taking a risk and playing that Hollywood style - we're not ready for Hollywood.

"If the kick's there we back our leg, but at times tonight it just looked like we got a little bit too overzealous with how we used the ball."

Defence often took a back seat in Friday night's match, which featured 33 goals. Sanderson admitted to feeling uncomfortable with the freewheeling pace of the game, and admitted it wasn't the way he wanted the Crows to play.

"[We'd] prefer not to play that shootout, transition footy," he said.

"We scored, they scored … it was almost like a basketball game.

"We'd prefer to get the ball in our half, keep it in there, just keep wearing them down, grinding them down, but the open stuff doesn't suit us."

While his side didn't play they type of football Sanderson wanted for four quarters, the coach denied the Crows played dumb football.

"We're a smart team, we use the ball pretty smart, there were some passages of play tonight that I was really impressed with," he said.

"But at times tonight we probably took the hard one when there was an easier one available."

A highlight for the Crows was the performance of 24-year-old ruckman Sam Jacobs, who had a season-high 45 hit-outs.

Jacobs was undoubtedly one of Adelaide's best in the narrow win, but the man himself described the display as a "blowout".

"I was sort of happy with my game, probably not 'blow the cobwebs out' but it was good to get back into it and just have a good blowout again," he said.

"I thought the two weeks before the bye probably weren't up to my standard, and thought it was good to get back on track tonight."

Harry Thring covers Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.