The Adelaide Crows are preparing to welcome the best available talent when this year's National Draft commences on Monday evening.

This year, Matthew Nicks' Crows fell agonisingly short of a finals berth for the first time since 2017, in part due to a controversial late-season loss to the Sydney Swans.

However, the West Lakes tenants boast a strong draft position as they look to qualify for September action in 2024.

Adelaide holds just three picks at Monday's count – selections 10, 14, and 20 – and they all fall in the first round of proceedings. 

During October's trade and free agency period, the Crows orchestrated pick-related trades with the Gold Coast Suns and Melbourne, as well as gained their end-of-first-round choice from the AFL as compensation for Tom Doedee's departure to the Brisbane Lions.

The Crows' National Recruiting Manager, Hamish Ogilvie, discussed Adelaide's draft strategy at length, weighing up the 'best player available' strategy versus drafting for need.

"Three first-rounders allows you to probably put two together and get up (the order), and you've always got the future picks, too," Ogilvie told AFC.com.au on Friday.

"So, [there's] scope to perhaps bring a future pick in to maybe increase our hand to get up, and the [list committee has] worked a lot of scenarios if 'Player X' or 'Player Y' is gone then there's the possibility of trading back, and maybe we can still get the player that we wanted.

"The media and the phantom drafts and a lot of those people will talk about drafting on needs – we don't really do that. We might look at balancing our draft out with a third pick according to needs, but I think about when Joel Selwood went to Geelong; they didn't need him, but gee, they needed him for the 15 years after.

"With our first two selections, if they stay where they are, we'll just take the best player (available). You know, some draft nights there's 20-40 phone calls given or received in regard to pick swaps, so we'll see how that goes, but we're certainly open.

"We've planned the scenarios, we're probably looking at somewhere around eight players [in contention] for our three picks.

"I think we would roughly know who those eight are, but there's always the chance of a surprise."

The first round of the 2023 National Draft is scheduled for Monday evening at Marvel Stadium, followed by the remaining rounds, which are set for Tuesday night.