Adelaide Crows veteran Brodie Smith admits he must perform against Fremantle to hold his place in the side as he approaches his 250th game in Perth on Friday night.

The club has struggled in the early part of the season and Smith says his own form has not been good enough.

“I know I need to be better, and my form needs to be better,” he said.

“I’m under no illusions. I can’t play like I did last week going forward.”

The defender’s recent struggles were exemplified by a shocking shank against the Cats last week.

“I don’t think I’ve ever kicked a footy that bad in training, let alone a game,” Smith said.

“The big thing I’ve worked on this week has been going back to kicking, fundamentals, and just building confidence again, because clearly, I don’t know how that happened, and it rattled me for the second half, that’s for sure.

“I’m not in the form I’d like, the team’s not in the form it’d like, and then you come in and start celebrating what’s going to be my 250th this week, so it has been a little strange.