Adelaide’s quiet off-season hasn’t hindered the players’ confidence moving into 2027.

In fact, holding onto their current list was a favourable decision, according to Crow Ben Keays.

Entering the 2026 AFL Trade Period, the Crows held very little interest in attracting new talents from opposing clubs.

After losing out on long-term target Zac Bailey, Adelaide opted against shifting their interest, remaining one of just two teams yet to recruit a single talent (alongside reigning premiers Brisbane). The Crows will likely add veteran defender Harry Cunningham from Sydney via the Rookie Draft.

Headed by list manager Jarryd Roughead, the Crows also opted to keep in-demand key defender Nick Murray despite a lucrative offer from a desperate North Melbourne outfit.

Given the pressure on coach Matthew Nicks to deliver in 2027, the decision to promote from within certainly raised eyebrows.

That said, it’s one that Keays believes is highly beneficial.

“The fact of the matter is people love when you bring guys in from other teams,” former Lion Keays told SEN SA Breakfast.

“People just want to see your team go out and pluck other players from other teams or pluck other coaches from other teams and it makes you feel prepared. It makes you feel good because it's silly season.

“I think that sometimes it can be overrated. I think that if we had gone and bought in some - respectfully - fringe guys from other teams… let's say we traded in three guys from another team that might have been fringe players, the noise becomes so different.

“Everyone's sitting there going, ‘how good was that? That's a great offseason, they've gone and plucked him from Hawthorn and that guy from the Gold Coast, how good's that?’

“I don't think a lot of those moves move the needle and sometimes the biggest win might be keeping a player at the club like a Nick Murray.

“(He) was clearly sought after by North really hard. North were clearly very, very high on him and for good reason. The fact that we have kept him, that should be celebrated as well in itself.

“As a player, I'm very happy that we kept him because I think Nick's really important to the group and I'm very happy with what Jarryd Roughead did around that.

“I just think that the off season's a funny one. It gets overrated, put under a microscope more than it should be, and I think we can go over the top with wanting more and more new players.

“We love novelty, we want some new players in, but we'll go to the draft, we'll get some new kids in, who knows what we might unearth there.

“We're bringing in Harry Cunningham (from Sydney, joining via Rookie Draft), who might not be as exciting as others, but that's some veteran experience that's played in grand finals before.

“So, I'm pretty bullish on what we've done and I'm pretty excited.”

Looking into recruitment, Keays believes that by bringing in players externally, clubs lose out on promoting the next crop from within.

Naming a few players that could break through at the Crows, Keays argues that recruiting potential fringe talent from other clubs invites a pressure that works against the club.

“I think at times teams bring players in and feel the pressure to play them and really try and push them in because they might have invested something,” he said.

“Whether it's draft capital they've traded and there's media attention around that player… you almost sometimes see clubs play this guy in front of another kid that might have been on the list for two, three years developing.

“They feel pressure to play this guy that they've brought in from another team because they've invested draft capital and he plays ahead of a kid who might be ready for his chance.

“I think there's plenty that you've seen already. Oscar Ryan, Archie Ludowyke, Mitchell Marsh, who didn't play a senior game but played in the pre -season and played really well. He's a pretty decently high draft pick from last year.

“Sid Draper's a high draft pick who didn't play last year, who's getting his body right, and then you look at guys that we did bring in - Lachie McAndrew, Hugo Hall-Kahan, SSP mid-season guys that came in.

“You just never know who's going to pop up and who gets that opportunity and you'd hate to rob that opportunity for one of those guys because you've bought someone in and you feel the need to play them.”

The Crows will need their young talents to shine in 2027 if the club wants to contend deep into September.

Listen to Ben Keays’ full interview below: