ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson says the Crows’ bright future is what will entice key players Kurt Tippett and Rory Sloane to stay at West Lakes.

After young star Patrick Dangerfield re-signed with the club on Monday, the focus shifted to his teammates Tippett and Sloane.

Sloane said last week that he was close to signing a new deal, while Tippett has remained tight-lipped on his intentions.

Sanderson said there was success in store for those who remained loyal.
 
"Our message to Kurt is that we're going to have a long, sustained future at this footy club and he's going to enjoy playing his footy here," he said.

"We won't force him or hold a gun to his head, he can make his own decisions, but you speak to most of the players and you can see they're enjoying their footy."

Sanderson said he was happy with the progress of contract negotiations and hoped they could be wrapped up soon.

"It's been a work in process for quite a long time for Dangerfield and I think the same with the other boys, who we hope to sign soon," he said.

"The wheels are in motion behind the scenes.

"It's not something just where Kurt wakes up and goes, 'you know what? I want to go to the club today and sign'.

"We're quietly confident that we'll get those boys over the line, hopefully sooner rather than later."

Sanderson said the Crows’ culture and future would make it "envied" by rival players and clubs alike.

"It's going to be a really exciting place to be around in the next two or three or four years," he said.

"Players are going to want to come here too, not just the ones who are already here.

"I think we'll probably be the envy of a lot of clubs in two or three years because we're providing an environment of success."

The next step in creating that successful environment is Saturday's match against Fremantle at Patersons Stadium.

Describing Fremantle as one of the best defensive teams in the competition, Sanderson said the game could get "ugly" if Ross Lyon’s side threw numbers behind the ball.

"They play defensively as well as anybody," he said.

"It's going to be tough, it's going to be an ugly game at times if they have numbers behind the ball, but we probably saw with West Coast on the weekend their ability to break them open in the second half.

"We'll take a little bit out of that."

Despite having kicked just two goals in the past four games, Sanderson ensured forward Jason Porplyzia would retain his place, while he said two, possibly three talls would be needed to quell gargantuan ruckman Aaron Sandilands.

"He's just too big and tall, you just can't jump into him with one ruckman all day" Sanderson said.

"We've got the ability to play three ruckmen anyway, so that's probably the model we'll go with.

"It'd be foolish to take in one ruck against big ‘Sandi’."

Harry Thring covers Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter:@AFL_Harry.