Geelong coach Mark Thompson said his side was outplayed by an impressive Adelaide unit as the Crows held on in a nail-biting final term to record an 11-point win and their fourth on the trot.
Thompson was direct in his assessment of the game, labelling his team's performance as 'un-Geelong-like'.
Thompson said his troops didn't pay their opponents enough respect and admitted the lead-up to the game was a major factor.
"We just got outplayed tonight, there were no excuses here," he said.
"We probably took it a little bit easy, didn't show them enough respect and they outplayed us. They just had a very good attitude, a better attitude than us. It was very un-Geelong-like. It just happens occasionally."
"I think our attitude was fine today, we spoke about good things. I just think the preparation was wrong, it was just completely wrong."
The dual premiership-winning coach confessed he was now most concerned with putting the whole night behind him and returning to Geelong where the Cats can prepare for next week's clash with Brisbane.
"To be honest we just want to get back to the hotel, have a good feed, have a decent sleep and get on a plane to Melbourne and pretty much forget about this weekend," he said.
The game was rocked even before the first bounce when Geelong medical officer Geoff Allen suffered a heart attack in the middle of the warm-up.
Allen was revived on-field by fellow medical staff before being taken away by an ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide where he is now recovering.
Thompson confirmed the team doctor was in a stable condition, conscious and talking.
"He's ok, he's in hospital. He's awake, talking to his wife and family so that's great news. It's not great to see one of your family members, one of your doctors nearly die on the footy ground before a game, it's just incredible," he said.
Thompson admitted the horrific incident had stunned the entire Geelong camp but said more important than the game was Allen had survived and was recovering.
"We couldn't shield them (the players), they saw every aspect of it," he said.
"They (the players) saw them (medical crew) trying to revive him. We knew by the time we got onto the ground that he was still alive, we knew that he was going to be taken to hospital and he was a good chance to survive. He has (survived) so that's great, probably more important than the game of footy really."