The Crows kicked 119 points against a Freo backline that had only conceded an average 76.7 points per game leading into the AAMI Stadium clash.
De Boer said the onus was on the players up the ground to prevent Adelaide from pumping the ball inside 50 after Adelaide had won the contested possessions by 16 and the clearances by 17.
“I think what hurt our defence more than anything was our lack of ability to win the stoppages,” he said.
“The ball was coming in too easily.”
De Boer also refused to blame Nat Fyfe’s late withdrawal as a factor in the loss.
“We’re a very resilient team and we’ve played without ‘Fyfey’ for the majority of the year,” he said.
“It was a shock initially, but we moved on pretty quickly and I thought Lachie (Neale) came in and, although he was a sub, when he came on he had an impact.”
De Boer said Freo’s morale was still good and the side was totally focussed on an enormous match against a Trent Cotchin-inspired Richmond at Patersons Stadium on Saturday.
“They’re a very formidable midfield,” he said.
“We’ll watch them pretty closely and hopefully pick up a few things.
“Everyone’s up and about and we can’t wait for next week.”
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