WELCOME to 'Destination Adelaide'.

Playing explosive and exciting football, with a vibrant and selfless squad, and a location sell to replicate what's made Geelong so successful at attracting rival players, the Crows have muscled their way to the front of the queue for the competition's next crop of wantaway stars.

Adelaide has interest in gun potential recruits Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Sam Draper, among others, and will pursue such players in the coming months. As revealed by AFL.com.au's trade and draft show Gettable earlier this year, the Crows have already tabled an offer of eight-plus years for Wanganeen-Milera.

But the subtle pitch to both players has already been made across the last fortnight. In two games against Wanganeen-Milera and Draper's current teams, St Kilda and Essendon respectively, Adelaide has slammed through 46 goals while its best players have been, for the large part, a collection of talent under the age of 24.

With cap space still in hand, and its first-round picks in 2025, 2026 and 2027 now in play, the Crows have put themselves in the perfect position to be aggressive in the market.

Wanganeen-Milera and Draper might be the leading South Australian talents potentially on the table this season, but the Crows won't just go local. In their pitch to rival players over recent years, the club has taken a Geelong-like approach to selling not only its footballing prospects but also its desirable location.

Adelaide's increasing marketability as an events town through significant sporting occasions like Gather Round and LIV Golf, as well as its close proximity to beaches, farming locations and wineries, have all helped in that regard.

But the club's primary attraction might be the outcome of a list build that has been one of patience, with the Crows now a group constructed predominantly through top-end selections at the draft.

While it has taken time to develop, the results are now starting to become clear to see. Saturday's forward line, which combined for 25 goals, was led by a bunch of top-12 picks playing to their full potential in Darcy Fogarty, Izak Rankine, Riley Thilthorpe, Josh Rachele and Dan Curtin.

But those exciting youngsters also shared the responsibility. Among the 46 Adelaide goals that have been kicked across the last fortnight, the club has had 12 individual goalkickers in both of its first two games, while it also had six players boot multiple goals against St Kilda and seven against Essendon last Saturday.

More first-round selections have also been used to gain Max Michalanney, now an important part of the side's backline, as well as Sid Draper, who is slowly being integrated into senior duties after arriving at the club with pick No.4 last year.

Of those first-round picks, the oldest is 25-year-old Fogarty. Meanwhile – according to Champion Data's AFL Player Ratings system – of the club's four highest-rated players to start the season, the oldest is 24-year-old Rankine.

Yet games have been drilled into the overwhelming majority of them. Fogarty has already hit triple figures for appearances, Rankine isn't far behind, Soligo, Rachele and Thilthorpe have each played between 50 and 65 games, while Michalanney will notch 50 senior games in the coming weeks.

The club has taken its medicine – last season extended its finals drought to seven seasons – while still seeing growth along the way. In 2023, despite missing September with an 11-12 record, it lost five games by under a kick and had a percentage (116.8) that was the fourth-best in the League.

Complementing the club's youth has been a deliberately targeted approach to acquiring role players through other avenues. Mitch Hinge was a delisted free agent, Nick Murray was a supplemental selection period recruit, Luke Nankervis arrived via the pre-season draft, Mark Keane returned to Australia from Ireland, while Jordon Butts came via the rookie draft.

That's allowed the club the flexibility to go after high-end recruits where necessary, using first-round picks to secure captain Jordan Dawson in 2021 and Rankine just 12 months later.

It will have more flexibility later this season as well, having enjoyed a 2024 Trade Period where Isaac Cumming arrived as a free agent without costing any draft capital, while James Peatling and Alex Neal-Bullen were recruited with a variety of second-round picks.

While Neal-Bullen is a South Australian local and Cumming played SANFL footy as a junior, Peatling is from Pennant Hills in northern Sydney and turned down an offer to stay at the Giants – where he had graduated from their Academy program – to make the move to Adelaide.

The work completed last October enabled the club to keep its No.4 selection last year, where it picked Sid Draper, while keeping first-rounders in 2025, 2026 and 2027 to add to its ammunition in the coming years. Sam Draper is a free agent but the Crows could need such picks for the uncontracted Wanganeen-Milera and potentially others as well.

TRADE HUB All the latest player movement news

Adelaide also has three third-round picks in 2025; its own, as well as others courtesy of Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney. While that may seem insignificant, the market for such selections could also swell amid a draft crop heavily diluted by Academy and father-son talents, as well as the reduced points now attached to later picks.

Tougher tests will undoubtedly lie ahead for Adelaide, and could potentially come this weekend when it faces a North Melbourne side that started its list build in a similar timeframe.

But should the wins keep stacking up, and the goals keeping flying through, the club will certainly continue to make itself an exciting proposition for the competition's most gettable stars.