Adelaide appears certain to be without Matt Crouch for Saturday’s AFL Showdown, with the midfielder looking at a suspension for rough conduct.

Crouch was booked for his crude bump on North Melbourne key forward Jarrad Waite in the third term of Saturday night’s 10-point loss at Etihad Stadium.

Waite had his head over the ball when Crouch’s hip collected him high.

While the Kangaroos forward played out the game, the match review panel takes a dim view of that sort of collision.

The most likely result is that Crouch will be suspended for a game or two.

He was high among Adelaide’s best with a team-high 20 possessions, including 12 contested, plus eight clearances and a goal.

Don Pyke admitted to frustration after his official senior coaching debut, saying he was disappointed they had lost after dominating periods of the game.

“There wasnt much that separated the teams all night and a lot of positives to take away,” he said.

“The disappointing part is we came here to win and we didnt.

“So we accept weve done some things really well and weve got some areas weve got to keep working on and well do that and well get better.”

Adelaide have a tough early-season draw, but Pyke said they would keep a narrow focus.

“I was really pleased with the attitude and the effort of the players, that wasnt questioned at all,” he said.

“We made some errors we did some things which we can improve on and we will.

“From the draw view point, we look no further forward than Port Adelaide.”

Pyke said they did not make the most of their opportunities, noting their ball movement in attack needed work.

“At times it was our last kick (inside 50), which is probably one of the most important kicks in footy, its the one that sets you up,” he said.

“But that said I thought our second quarter was really strong.

“So we put ourselves in a really strong position at half time and unfortunately our third quarter wasnt to the level we wanted to play.”