Crows stars accept blame for loss to Carlton Crows Ben Rutten and Bernie Vince warm up at training yesterday. LEADING Adelaide players have apologised to coach Brenton Sanderson after last week's loss to Carlton. In reviewing the match and the club's patchy form, players have been embarrassed by some of their work around the contests. But Sanderson believes the frank self-assessment is the recipe for a quick turnaround, with players prepared to put their hand up rather than enter a mode of self-preservation. I've had a lot of one-on-one meetings this week with some of our best players who have just come in with their head down, saying `I'm letting you down at the minute. I'm letting the team down'," Sanderson said. That's a good sign when you know that a player is aware he's out of form. Sometimes when you're going through a bit of a form slump players start blaming everything but themselves but our guys have put their hands up. I've put my hand up as a coach - I can coach better as well. That's our challenge. Some of the edits that we've showed, some of the passages of play, they are quite embarrassed. They just sort of shake their heads. We're not trying to embarrass players - it's a teaching mechanism. So we show the edits, we go out and train it, we look for ways to get better and ways to improve. We're still a very young side. We have six or seven players under 15 games experience on the weekend, so you're going to get some growing pains along the way. But I'm still really excited by what's ahead for us short-term and also long-term. I'll never write us off. The positive energy within the group is still there. The anticipation we're going to be a good side is there. The Crows, who made the preliminary final last season and were tipped as premiership contenders, have been widely written off . It has not discouraged Sanderson, who still sees fire and promise in the Crows. "People are always going to write us off," Sanderson said. But I'm really confident this week against Hawthorn. Whether we're good enough we'll have to wait and see but we've just got to get back to playing that really ruthless style that balances attack and defence. Sanderson yesterday spoke of the spirit of Taylor Walker, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last weekend but is already looking for ways to contribute as the Crows' search for form. He will spend time this season as a mentor and opposition analyst and Sanderson predicted he would come back for a long and fruitful career with the club. "He's got another seven or eight really good years ahead of him," Sanderson said. But, yes, it's a setback that a lot of players have had to go through. There's no reason why he can't bounce back and be even better than he was before the injury. Originally published as Crows stars accept blame for defeat