FORMER Adelaide recruiting manager Matthew Rendell fears Kurt Tippett will leave the Crows at the end of the season, but says the club recruited Josh Jenkins specifically to cover the loss.
After a much-publicised meeting between his management and the Crows before Adelaide's 10-point loss to the Brisbane Lions in round 21, the star forward suspended contract talks until the end of the season.
Crows football manager Phil Harper then said the 25-yaer-old was presented with an "exceptional offer" that club legend Mark Ricciuto reported as being worth more than $3 million over five seasons.
But Rendell questioned Tippett's reluctance to sign with the Crows, admitting history suggested he would likely leave West Lakes.
"Two years ago I would have said definitely in two years time, when his contract came up, [he would leave]," Rendell told 5AA.
"I don't know of anyone who has said they will leave their contract until the end of the year who hasn't gone."
Rendell, who will join Collingwood next season and oversaw the departures of Nathan Bock to Gold Coast and Phil Davis to Greater Western Sydney, said Adelaide was so uncertain that Tippett would remain at the club that it targeted then-Essendon rookie Jenkins as a possible replacement.
The pair are quite similar physically, being listed as the same weight (104kg), although Tippett has 5cm on Jenkins.
"What we did last year, thinking he (Tippett) might go at the end of this year was to go and source another ruckman, that's why we went after Josh Jenkins," Rendell said.
"We wanted to at least have a back-up who could play in the ruck and play forward. I didn't want to get into the situation of thinking `geez, he's gone, what are we going to do' and get into panic mode a little bit.
"Good clubs prepare well and between the three of us (new-Crows recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie, list manager David Noble and Rendell) we prepared, we thought, really well, just in case the worst-case scenario came up with Kurt Tippett."
Rendell conceded the loss of Tippett would be a major blow to Adelaide's list, but was confident Jenkins was a good replacement, even suggesting the 23-year-old could develop into a "great" defender.
"It's going to be a big loss because as you can see they're really hard to find - [a] key position [player] who can play in the ruck, everyone's looking for one," he said.
"I didn't see [Jenkins] play at all last year, I left it up to Hamish and Hamish went and watched him a lot … what I've seen I've liked.
"He was a perfect key defender, he was quick and competitive, good composure with the ball, we knew he could play forward but I just thought it was worth training him up to play defence.
"He could actually be a great key defender for the Crows."
Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow himon Twitter: @AFL_Harry.