Adelaide football operations manager John Reid admits the Crows need to improve their man-on-man game and mental hardness next season.

Reid said Adelaide didn't do too much wrong in the nail-biting loss to Collingwood on Saturday but conceded the side struggled to adjust when the Magpies changed their game.

"They were prepared to play one loose back and we played one loose back and they struggled to perform with that and they went back to a strong man-on-man competitive approach," Reid said in a FiveAA radio interview on Monday.

"I think that's something we still have to add to our game, to be able to make our game work under that pressure is something we know we have to improve."

"You get into finals and one-on-one football becomes pretty critical at some stage during the finals period. I think that's something we need to get better at it ...I think we can get better at it."

Reid also felt the side fell back into some old habits by letting the Magpies get back into the contest after trailing by 26 points at half-time.

"Our mental hardness in that period I think was a weakness during the year. Against the best sides we had this 20 minute situation where our premiership skills and our hardball gets drops off and the opposition hurt us in that period," Reid said.

"That's something we'll need to get better at. I think it is something we addressed during the year but on the weekend it resurrected itself and let us down."

Meanwhile Reid said he was disappointed with some media reports and members of the public who were critical of coach Neil Craig.

"I do get peeved when people in this town, not all of them, you just wonder where they come from and what their whole life is about, belting people soon as they are down, I just don't quite understand it," he said.

"I'm going to stand up for Neil, I'm not going to let peple run over him because he's a bloody good coach, he didn't lose the game on the weekend."

"Some people say (Collingwood coach Mick) Malthouse won it I don't necessarily agree with that."