Despite Matthew Nicks backing Adelaide’s list in the wake of its alarming drop off in 2024, Fox Footy pundits have questioned the Crows’ talent.

Adelaide’s finals hopes are all but gone after an eight-point home loss to the 17th-placed Tigers on Thursday night, with Nicks’ side falling to 4-1-8 on the season.

Criticism is sure to come far and wide on the Crows in a year many tipped them to build off a promising 2023 and climb into the top eight.

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Nicks post-match was “confident” the Crows have the list despite conceding they simply aren’t good enough at the moment in what’s “been a tough year.”

However Kangaroos legend David King believes injuries to key players including Izak Rankine and Taylor Walker has highlighted the lack of depth and overall talent pool at West Lakes.

“It exposes the poor history they’ve had at the draft, I just don’t think they’ve recruited enough match winners,” King said of Adelaide’s loss to Richmond on Fox Footy post-match.

“It’s evident now when you lose the magic men Izak Rankine and Taylor Walker, all issues come to the fore.

“Who was going to win that game from them? It was (Jordan) Dawson, who else? (Darcy) Fogarty was good. In the last say five or six drafts, who else?

“I think they’ve got a full club issue. It’s not just the way they’re playing or just the performance, I think it’s deeper than that.”

Leading Richmond by one point at half-time, the Crows lost clearances (-8) and inside 50s (-10) in the second half including conceding six goals in a decisive third quarter.

King thinks the Tigers getting supremacy in the middle of the ground showed Adelaide “don’t have the midfield” in an area he says it needs to address.

“They’re light on where the game is separated in the end,” King added.

“That first 15 minutes off the third quarter they were hammered out of the middle and couldn’t stand up behind the ball.

“It’s back to the draft for some of the those acquisitions to get the game breakers and guys who really shift the course of AFL matches.

“They just don’t have them.”

Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall was also critical of Adelaide’s list, suggesting it lacked the top-line stars to compete with the best teams.

“Last year they had everyone available, their confidence up and they played some good footy, I thought they could be competitive this year. But there’s not enough class and A-graders on their list to combat the good sides,” Dunstall said.

“He’s (Nicks) probably got to come out and back his players in and say they have a good list.

“But they’re four or five pieces of the puzzle still missing.”

It came after the Crows lost to Hawthorn last week, while the fixture gets much tougher from here ahead of a showdown with Sydney next week before they have their mid-season bye.

Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna agreed with Nicks that Adelaide was clearly lacking confident after a “disappointing” showing.

“I know they were missing some players as well. But at home, I thought it was a really poor performance,” Montagna said on Fox Footy.

“They’ve got some serious soul searching to do. They are a shell of the team we saw last season.

“They didn’t respond like I thought they would … you can see the way they’re playing at the moment, they don’t have the confidence in each other and the way they’re playing.”