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ADELAIDE had no interest in pursuing Gold Coast tall Daniel Gorringe during the NAB AFL Trade Period because the club didn't believe he could fill its needs.
Gorringe asked to be traded home to South Australia, nominating Port Adelaide as his club of choice.
With a trade failing to materialise, the 22-year-old ruckman/forward will remain at the Suns in 2015.
On paper he appeared the perfect recruit for the Crows, who flagged a desperate desire to bolster their ruck stocks after delisting Shaun McKernan and Angus Graham.
But the club felt his skillset wasn’t ideal.
"We spoke about Dan Gorringe as a list management and a recruiting group, we felt that he was probably more a forward than a ruckman," Walsh said.
"We're very happy with the choice we've ended up making."
That choice was to bring in medium-sized defender Kyle Cheney and ruckman Luke Lowden from Hawthorn, as well as draft picks No. 43 and No. 47, in exchange for selections 31, 50 and 68.
The Crows then swapped picks No.10 and No.47 with Geelong for selections 14 and 35.
Walsh hailed the move a success, insisting the seeds for success already existed at West Lakes.
"The ingredients for this team (are) there - I personally don't think we don't need to add a lot of things," Walsh said.
"Cheney does add to us in the defensive area of the game and obviously we need to get some support for Sam Jacobs in the ruck and Luke does that.
"Right where we sit now, I'm very comfortable."
Walsh predicted Cheney to become a certain starter at West Lakes, praising his competitiveness.
Cheney has managed 41 games during stints at Melbourne (2009-2010) and Hawthorn.
The 25-year-old played nine games in 2014.
"I'm a bit of a fan of Kyle Cheney so I've watched him from a bit of a distance this year," Walsh said.
"He's got great character, he puts team first, he mightn't be the flashiest player but he's the sort of person I want to bring into the footy club.
"I'd like to think that in time, maybe not for Luke, but definitely Kyle could force himself into the team straight away.
"I've got a lot of faith in him and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do at this club."
Walsh said the Crows would look to draft a tall player with at least one of their first two picks (No.14 and No.35) at the upcoming NAB AFL Draft.
The club's decision to downgrade its first pick raised some eyebrows, but Walsh insisted it was a carefully planned manoeuvre.
"Some people might ask why we pushed back from No.10 to No.14 - that was a calculated decision," he said.
"I'll back in my recruiting team, they tell me the player that they wanted at that pick will still be there at No. 14."
Twitter: @AFL_Harry
