National recruiting manager Matt Rendell says the Crows could consider taking a mature-age recruit with their last pick in the 2011 national draft in Western Sydney on Thursday night. 

Adelaide holds four picks, Nos.27, 41, 46 and 64 in this year’s draft, which lacks depth compared to the 2010 talent pool.

The Crows claimed one ‘mature-age’ recruit in 19-year-old Norwood midfielder Luke Brown as part of a deal with Greater Western Sydney, which also saw Adelaide land promising North Ballarat teenager Brad Crouch.

Rendell said the lack of available underage talent could see the club turn to a mature-age selection at pick No.64.

“It might be [a mature-age player] at pick No.64. I doubt whether it would be higher than that,” Rendell said on Tuesday.

“You just don’t know. We could still have a [young] player I rated highly available there.

“Nine mature-age players got taken through the window for GWS and we got one of them in Luke Brown, but there’s still a handful there worth having a go at.

“The SANFL is the best comp outside the AFL by a mile. There are a lot of good players there, who could play AFL given the right club, circumstances and openings as far as positions go.

“There are probably 10 or 20, who could get picked out of there.

“I saw the story in the newspaper about (Woodville-West Torrens veteran) Luke Jarrad today.

“Luke could play league footy tomorrow, but whether you can fit him into your team [is another question] because it takes a [spot] away from a 21-year-old you want to get games into.

“It depends where you think you are as far as winning a flag.”

Adelaide has also flagged the possibility of saving a pick for December’s pre-season draft, and won’t make a decision on whether to activate pick No.64 on Thursday night until during the draft.

“We’ll probably have a couple of player’s names there [at No.64] and if they’re gone by the time we get there we’ll probably go to the pre-season draft,” Rendell said.

Adelaide traded pick No.10 in the 2011 draft to GWS as part of the Crouch/Brown deal.

Despite the shallow nature of the draft, Rendell remained confident the club would secure a quality player with its first pick at No.27, which falls at the end of the first round.

“The draft isn’t as strong as last year … last year was a cracker,” he said.

“There was good depth down to 30 and 40 and some good players picked there.

“The top 15 probably isn’t as strong as last year’s top 15 … but you’re still going to get some good players, who are going to play league football in the 30s and 40s.

“It’s difficult to say who is going to be there at pick No.27.

“We believe we addressed our needs through the trade, which is what you should do.

“The needs for us aren’t as great, so we just want to pick guys who we think can play league footy down the track.”

Sturt midfielder Chad Wingard will be the first South Australian selected in Thursday’s draft.

Wingard was touted as a potential top-three pick earlier in the year, but is a "chance” to slip through to Port Adelaide at pick No.6.

SA Under-18 representatives Alex Forster, Brad McKenzie, Jordan Murdoch and Mitch Grigg have also attracted attention from AFL recruiters.

Rendell denied the departures of homesick forward Jack Gunston, defender Tony Armstrong and opportunity-starved ruckman Ivan Maric would persuade the club to pick local talent, but reaffirmed SA players would receive the nod over interstate players rated similarly.

“If we rate the players similarly the weighting is with the local,” he said.

“It’s always been like that and it’s not just us. Every club does it.

"It’s sensible practice.

“The circumstances with Jack, Ivan and Tony were all different.

“I wouldn’t have picked Jack as one, who would want to go home, when we drafted him and interviewed him.

"Tony had family reasons involved … and Maric was opportunity.

“During trade week we got Tom Lynch and Josh Jenkins, who are Victorians but wanted to come here and play, and Richard Tambling was the same last year.

“The traffic goes back and forth … I can tell you we’ve had a lot more South Australians come back and play for us than we’ve had go the other way.”

As the Crows prepare for season 2012 on the track, be sure to visit 19thman.com.au and renew or join the Club for 2012.