Adelaide coach Don Pyke has flagged more AFL axings after a dirty day for the Crows either side of the border.

The Crows’ upset 27-point loss to Carlton at the MCG means they have dropped four of their last five and are on the verge of dropping out of the top eight.

They had made a big selection statement, dropping much-loved forward Eddie Betts to their SANFL team as he endures a form slump.

Betts joined fellow AFL mainstays Bryce Gibbs, Sam Jacobs, Hugh Greenwood and Richard Douglas in a powerful local line-up.

But despite Betts’ four goals and 40 possessions from Gibbs, they lost to top SANFL side Glenelg by two points.

“Hopefully he’s gone back and played the way he’s capable of playing, he’s done the things that we needed him to look at,” Pyke said of Betts.

“I’d expect that based on today’s performance, there might be a few guys who are in line for selection.”

Pyke added defender Alex Keath, who was left out of Saturday’s game, will probably miss another week as he recovers from bone stress in an ankle.

After a bright enough start against Carlton, the Crows looked out of sorts and probably should have lost by more.

They had no answer for Blues midfield bull Patrick Cripps, who ran amok and was easily best afield.

“It was a disappointing day, wasn’t it? We were poor, we looked like we had low energy and clearly at the moment we’re pretty low in confidence,” Pyke said.

“We’ll keep going, keep trying some different things and one key thing I know – as disappointing as today was and as disappointing as the last three or four weeks have been, our season is still very much alive.

“We now have to go back to the drawing board, come up and get ready for St Kilda.”

Pyke added they tried Rory Sloane on Cripps through the middle of the game.

Sloane was among Adelaide’s best, but overall they were belted in contested possessions and clearances.

“The hard part is if you go to that (tagging) space, you become quite reactive around the stoppage – we got badly beaten in the stoppage,” Pyke said.