Sydney Swans defender Callum Mills says his teammates will get back to working hard on fundamentals following the side’s 26-point loss to the Adelaide Crows on Friday night.

Mills, one of eight members of a new-look leadership panel, concedes the Swans were left to rue too few passages of competitive footy in their first SCG clash of the season.

“It was a pretty disappointing game. It was just a series of fundamental mistakes. Adelaide were able to score off the back of our stupid mistakes and we got wrong a lot of fundamental skills we pride ourselves on," Mills told SwansTV post-match.

“Unfortunately we didn’t do it enough. If you don’t have consistent efforts throughout the game the other team wins, and that’s what happened tonight."

Pocket-rocket Sydney small forward Ben Ronke crumbed and snapped for the opening goal of the game early in the first term, but Adelaide would respond with four unanswered majors to take a 21-point lead into quarter-time.

Mills said the quarter-time message was to ramp up pressure at the contest.

“We had to hunt the ball around the scramble and then go forward from there,” Mills said.

“We were able to turn things around in the second quarter but then in the third quarter we took a backward step. It’s frustrating and we’ve got to find that consistency throughout four quarters.”

The 2019 pre-season saw Sydney’s coaching panel experiment with Mills in the midfield, with the 21-year-old combining forces with the likes of Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker, George Hewett and Isaac Heeney.

But Mills spent almost the entirety of Friday’s fixture in his native half-back territory, with the QBE Sydney Swans Academy graduate mopping up the footy alongside experienced campaigners Jarrad McVeigh and Jake Lloyd.

Although Mills is open to taking on more minutes in the midfield, he says he thoroughly enjoys patrolling the defensive 50 with names like Dane Rampe, McVeigh and Lloyd.

“I love running out with those guys,” Mills said.

“It’s a great backline. We’ve built some really good chemistry over the past couple of years and we’ve got to continue to build.”

After losing its opening two games of the season to the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide, Sydney will be on the hunt for victory as it takes on Carlton at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium next Saturday afternoon.