Adelaide has responded to recent trade rumours linking the club to former player and Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield as the Crows prepare for an "aggressive" player movement space this year.
Dangerfield, who is a restricted free agent in 2024, was surprisingly linked to his old club this week, with Adelaide said to be expressing some interest in having the Brownlow Medal winner return to West Lakes.
The 34-year-old is seen to be highly unlikely to depart the club he joined eight years ago, having sought a move to Geelong to return closer to home at the time.
Speculation of the Crows' audacious bid for Dangerfield hasn't gained much backing from Adelaide CEO Tim Silvers, who is keen to see the club's list acquire top-end talent.
Speaking on ABC's SA Grandstand,ย Silvers responded to questions surrounding the recent trade ties linking the Crows to Dangerfield's services, pouring cold water on the suggestion.
While 'sidestepping' direct discussion on Dangerfield, the Adelaide boss did state the club is keen to bring in experienced talent nearing their prime years.
"There's always so much talk. It's actually gotten worse over the last couple of years around free agency and trade," Silvers said of the Dangerfield rumour.
"Our rule is we can't comment on any players, so we'll continue to sidestep that.
"We've gone through a process of this rebuild, we've gone to the draft for a number of years, we've got a consolidated group of talented kids. The next phase of our list management is to try to bring in some top-end talent around that 22-26 years old (range) to just make us better and that's going to be our focus over the next six months.
While the Crows might not be able to land 'a big fish' this year, Silvers believes it's still too early to tell which top targets could be up for grabs come the off-season.
Having made moves for Melbourne pair Clayton Oliver and Harrison Petty last year, the Crows remain keen on acquiring that will add to the club's system and list under coach Matthew Nicks.
Not wanting to "trade for the sake of trading", the Crows will quickly, but carefully, look at the pool of available talent and be sure to remain in the window if the ideal options become available.
"You can't sit on your hands. If you want to get some talent into your club, you've got to be aggressive. So that's what we'll be,"
"We're gonna be aggressive. But we don't want to trade for the sake of trading. We just want to find the type of players that will complement our current group as it is to make us better because we want to push for that top end of the ladder.
"You can't put your name to a big fish, especially this far out (from the off-season).
"We need to be focused on the type of players that we need, and sometimes they might not be the big fish. Jordan Dawson probably wasn't looked at as a big fish when we got him a couple of years ago. Now he's the captain of our footy club.
"You can build your list in many ways, and we'll be aggressive in making us better."
The Crows could be required to part ways with their opening draft selection if a large enough target is attainable for the South Australian club - a move similar to what saw them secure Izak Rankine from Gold Coast in 2022.
Adelaide's opening pick for the 2024 National Draft currently sits at Pick 6, while the club also has selections 35, 44 and 62 at the time of writing.
