Crows great calls for tougher footy

BROWNLOW Medallist Mark Ricciuto says Adelaide must get down and dirty and stop playing “nice” footy to fight their way out of a worrying form slump.

The Crows have gone from outright premiership favourites to being exposed two weeks in a row with big losses to North Melbourne and Melbourne.

Club legend and board member Ricciuto did not hold back yesterday, saying the Crows looked tired and needed to toughen up.

“The Crows have got to get back to being hard, dirty and tough and not playing nice footy,” he said on Triple M.

“They need to toughen up a bit in the middle. They look a bit tired and out of sorts, in the middle part of the ground they got beaten by a better midfield.

“Tackling, contested ball and clearances, and that’s a mindset thing and how much you want it.

“There is ability in there as well but a lot of it is your ability to put your body on the line.

“I think Jayden Hunt getting knocked out when he ran into Jacobs epitomised what Melbourne were like.

“He ran into Jacobs flat out and knocked himself out. That’s the lengths he went to put pressure on the opposition.”