Adelaide has added great versatility to its list by recruiting former Hawks Kyle Cheney and Luke Lowden without compromising the Club’s draft ambitions, says Crows Head of Football David Noble.

With less than a minute remaining before the close of AFL Trade Period, Adelaide snapped up Cheney and Lowden as part of a complex trade with the reigning premiers.

Noble said the pair “completely fit the brief” of what the Club was hunting for during the 10-day exchange period.

“What they bring is a complete and utter team-first focus that we believe is going to make us better,” Noble said on radio station FIVEaa on Thursday.

“Our key strategy was to trade for needs, improve our positions where we could, and maximise our value in picks. We reckon we’ve hit all of those targets.

“We’ve addressed ruck, we’ve addressed some areas of our defence…and we’ve been able to do that whilst at the same time holding integrity in what we want to do in round one and two (at the AFL National Draft) and improving our back-end picks.”

Senior Coach Phil Walsh said Adelaide made a “calculated decision” to swap picks 10 and 47 for Geelong’s 14 and 35 at next month’s National Draft.

But Noble said the shuffle was part of Adelaide’s greater list-management strategy and that he had complete confidence in the Club’s recruiting team.

“That slight slide of four positions will not hurt us in the assessment of where the talent is,” Noble said.

“We are not jeopardising a key talent by moving from No.10 to No.14 in our assessment.

“I’ve got great faith in our recruiting staff and I think collectively we’ve worked really well to put the strategy together for trading and the draft.

“You can’t do one without the other.”

Click here to read our club-by-club wrap of AFL Trade Period.

With key tall Andy Otten expected to be sidelined for much of 2015 as he recovers from a knee reconstruction, Noble said the addition of Cheney was an important move for the balance of the squad.

“We need a strong, team-first, competitive defender that has the capacity to play on a range of forwards. He will bring that versatility with him.

“We’ve watched him take on the big boys down there at a point in time, and he brings competitiveness to our game that we need in the back line.”

Cheney, 25, was originally drafted by Melbourne in 2007 before making his way to Hawthorn ahead of the 2011 season, racking up 41 senior appearances in the process.

“He’s desperate to look for the opportunity to cement himself at the level.”

Noble also hailed 204cm ruckman Lowden as another great addition to the Club’s roster.

A left-footer with solid ruck craft and uncanny speed for a man of his size, Noble said the Sandringham Dragons product could develop into an important player with the Crows.

“We’ve watched him for nearly two and a half years,” Noble said.

“We understand how much improvement he has made within his game, and he’s ready to go to the next level.”

Lowden booted three goals in his AFL debut in Round 12 against West Coast, and notched 24 goals for the year with Hawthorn’s VFL affiliate Box Hill.

“He’s been a tad unlucky this year. He was certainly challenging (Jonathon) Ceglar in that position of key ruck.”

Crows lead ruckman Sam Jacobs returned to career-best form in Season 2014 and earned a spot in the initial All Austalian squad for the second time of his career.

But Noble said Lowden was eager to push for the No.1 ruck mantle at the Club and would provide great internal competition for ‘Sauce’.

“We think he’s ready to play and we think he’s ready to challenge, for sure.

“He wants an opportunity to come in and plonk his stamp on the No.1 ruck spot if he can.”