Adelaide’s new recruits are following the lead of the Club’s senior players, says Rory Sloane.

The Crows welcomed 10 new faces in a busy offseason; trade period pick-ups Paul Seedsman, Troy Menzel, Curtly Hampton and Dean Gore, draftees Wayne Milera and Tom Doedee and rookies Jono Beech, Paul Hunter, Hugh Greenwood and Alex Keath.

Sloane was particularly impressed with a couple of his new teammates.

“Little Wayne Milera Junior has started off very well. He’s got really sharp skills,” Sloane said.

“Dean Gore has come over and impressed … a lot of our recruits have come over ready to impress.

“We’ve had some senior guys really stand up with their leadership as well, which we’re most impressed about.”

Sloane, captain Taylor Walker and two-time Club Champion Scott Thompson are among the players setting an example for the newest Crows on the training track.

Walker and Thompson, who is enduring his 16^th AFL pre-season, both recorded personal best times in the two-kilometre time trial when the full playing squad returned to training on November 30.

“Tex is looking sharp. He’s a monster at the moment and he’s running well,” Sloane said.

“The key is for him just to keep his fitness because he’s so strong and you see what he’s like out on the ground. He’s a barometer for us and he looks after everyone. His leadership has definitely gone to another level this year, I think. 

"Thommo ran a ‘PB’ in his two-kilometre time trial the other week, which is nice. Him, Eddie and guys like that, they’ve done a lot of pre-seasons so they’ll probably be managed a bit with their workload in terms of running.

“But they’ve been out there doing every football session, which is great because you notice the difference when they’re there.”

Sloane, 25, is preparing to enter his eighth AFL season.

The 2013 Crows Club Champion said he was coming to grips with being one of the ‘older’ players in the Adelaide squad, which features 19 players with 20 or fewer games of AFL experience.

“The other day we did a little exercise where we had to quickly line up in age order, from youngest to oldest,” Sloane said.

“There were guys reeling off their year of birth and it was ‘97’. I was thinking, ‘Wow, that’s seven years on from when (I was born)’ and I still feel young!

“There’s a bit more responsibility the older you get, but that’s (the case) for every player … we expect guys to be leaders even at a younger age as well.”

The Crows finished sixth last season, going down to eventual premiers Hawthorn in the Semi-Final.

Sloane said Adelaide would need improvement across the squad to climb the ladder in 2016.

“We’ve had a lot of turnover this year, which is all part of it I suppose,” he said.

“As soon as you get back into training you almost forget and you’re busy getting yourself back into a routine as well. We’ve got some young guys who can step into that role (of Patrick Dangerfield), and we’re all going to have to step up as midfielders because he (Dangerfield) was a really important player for us.

“We need more guys to step up, from ‘Thommo’, myself, Matt and Brad Crouch to young guys like ‘Gorey’ coming in.”

Brad Crouch is continuing his recovery from a foot injury that ruined his 2015 season.

Crouch, 21, was limited to two SANFL games this year because of a foot stress fracture. The 2013 Rising Star runner-up is gradually increasing his training load with the aim of being fit for Round One.

“Poor Brad did every session of the pre-season last year and got himself really fit, but didn’t quite make it to Round One,” Sloane said.

“He’s as hungry as ever and just wants to play football because he’s almost done two pre-seasons with the amount of training he’s done (in rehabilitation).

“I’d imagine he’d be pretty keen to play some footy.”

Adelaide’s success in 2015 was built on a potent attack, including Walker, All Australian Eddie Betts, athletic key forward Josh Jenkins, important link man Tom Lynch and livewire Charlie Cameron.

The Crows were the third-highest scoring team in the League behind only Grand Finalists Hawthorn and West Coast. The Club had the sixth-best ranking for scores against in the minor round, but conceded 278 points (an average of two goals per game) more than the triple-premiership winning Hawks across the home and away season.

“We’ve got a massive focus again on our team defence and taking that to another level,” Sloane said.

“We saw last year that we can attack, but I think our big improvement will come from working together in defence.”