ADELAIDE midfielder Bernie Vince says star forward Kurt Tippett is replaceable if he decides to switch clubs at the end of the season.

Behind that of the Power's Travis Boak, Tippett's future has been the most speculated in South Australian football this season.

He hasn't re-signed with the club and speculation is beginning to mount that he will instead join a Queensland-based side for the 2013 season.

Vince conceded the 25-year-old would play a huge role in Adelaide's finals campaign this year, but said that if he decided to leave, the Crows had players waiting to fill his shoes.

"We can't have a say on whether he signs or not with us, so all we can do is make it as good as environment as we can for him and hope that he stays," Vince said.

"If he did move on we've got guys coming through that have performed really well, Josh Jenkins and these guys that are chomping at the bit to get a game.

"We have got to back up if things don't go well."

Coach Brenton Sanderson said on Wednesday that even if Tippett announced he would join another team next season, he wouldn't be immediately banished from the club.

The last two Adelaide defectors, Nathan Bock (to Gold Coast in 2010) and Phil Davis (to GWS in 2011), were both told to clear their lockers.

But Sanderson said that as long as Tippett's decision wasn't a distraction to the rest of the playing group, he'd play finals football.

Vince backed his coach's position, claiming that if Tippett did abandon the Crows he would remain a wanted teammate in September.

"If he comes out and said he was staying or going it wouldn't affect the way that we treat him or the way we play and I'd hope it wouldn't change the way he plays," he said.

"He's a massive part of our finals campaign, so I was just saying to a few boys before, his next six weeks for our club is massive depending on how far we go into he finals.

"We've copped the raw end of it a bit, we've lost three of probably our key players over the last three or four years…but that happens in footy and money talks these days."

But while he said the players' treatment of Tippett wouldn't change regardless of his intent for next year, Vince couldn't vouch for Taylor Walker's understanding.

When he re-signed with the club earlier in the year, Walker joked on radio that he'd burn Tippett's house down if he didn't follow suit.

"Tex would do something like that, he's the only guy who would probably do something," Vince laughed.

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