Adelaide SANFL Captain Jack Madgen has experienced plenty of growth since taking over the role as the Crows’ State League skipper 12 months ago.

The key defender was first appointed last year following Senior Coach Matthew Wright’s retirement.

Madgen, who was signed to the Crows ahead of the 2023 campaign after five seasons at Collingwood, said there was one area he had worked hard to improve to help become a better leader.

“Probably in the past 12 months, I’ve relaxed a lot more and I’ve started to play a lot better footy,” Madgen said at the 2025 SANFL season launch on Tuesday.

“The motivation is still definitely there, I’m still super competitive and I want to win more than anything.

“Having a little more outside of football in terms of my family life has helped me put everything into perspective and then be able to perform on the weekend.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s been a long summer, knowing what an AFL summer can be like, but we are definitely keen to get underway.”

The Crows, who narrowly missed the State League finals last season  kick off their 2025 campaign with a clash against West Adelaide this Saturday afternoon.

Madgen said he was excited by the team’s potential and said there were many teammates who had improved across the summer.

“I am excited to oversee some of these SANFL listed players get after it,” Madgen, 31, said.

“I couldn’t be more impressed by (former North Melbourne player) Blake Drury, we are super lucky to have someone of his talent.

“I reckon we could play him everywhere - every trial game he’s played a different position and has almost been best-on-ground in every one.

“I’m also super excited to see the likes of Charlie Edwards and Oscar Ryan hit that level, because they’ve had such a good summer.”

Adelaide takes on West Adelaide in Round One at Hisense Stadium (Richmond Oval) on Saturday at 2.10pm.