Adelaide will have a strong hand in this year’s draft as the club embarks on an extensive rebuild.
Still winless in 2020 after seven rounds, the Crows will look to inject its list with top-end young talent as a first wooden spoon in club history beckons.
Currently holding four picks inside the top 30 – including the prized No.1 pick – Adelaide could further strengthen its draft position by moving on off-contract midfielder Brad Crouch.
Trading Crouch, a restricted free agent at season’s end, could land the Crows a first-round compensation pick – potentially pick No.2.
St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt says it’s an opportunity that should be explored by Adelaide’s list department.
“It was stark tonight (Monday) that they were lacking some really damaging midfielders,” Riewoldt told Fox Footy on Monday night.
“Now we know that the Crouch boys will win big numbers, and I’ll never profess to be able to get into a player’s head and understand their intention but it looks like, at least from the outside, that Matt Crouch has defined his game or the success of his game on by the amount of footy that he’s able to win.
“I think they can be really strong contributors still. We saw throughout the year when they made the Grand Final, they were playing great footy – All-Australian players. Two good footballers.
“If the Adelaide Football Club can get a really good price for them, and it fits in with their strategy, I don’t think we should look at that necessarily as a knock against those guys as players, it’s just what’s best for the Adelaide Football Club.
“At the moment they’ve got pick No.1, if they are able to extract a compensation pick for one of those boys, which will end up being a first-round pick that goes to pick No.2, that’s pretty attractive.”
Crouch, 26, attracted interest from Gold Coast during last year's trade period after winning Adelaide's best and fairest for the first time.
Adelaide's 0-7 record is its worst-ever start to a season following their 23-point loss to St Kilda.