Tippett, who was drafted from Southport in Queensland, was poised to come out of contract at the end of 2010 to coincide with the introduction of the league’s 17th team.
But at the Crows’ best and fairest award on Friday night chairman Rob Chapman declared the club had headed off a potential challenge from the Gold Coast by extending the 22-year-old’s deal to the end of 2012.
Malcolm Blight Medal winner Bernie Vince said the players were thrilled to keep the 201cm goalkicker at West Lakes.
“I was in Kurt’s ear every day for him to stay. It came down to his decision, but I always had faith he would stay,” Vince said on Friday night.
“He gets on really well with everyone here and I even told people back home [in Stansbury] that I’d be really surprised if he left at any stage.
“Hopefully we can reward him by having some success in the finals over the next couple of years.”
Adelaide also announced that fab four Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod, Tyson Edwards and Brett Burton had also agreed to new one-year deals with the club.
There had been much speculation as to whether the Crows could afford to keep all four veterans on their list next season.
But the club’s decision was vindicated in Friday night’s best and fairest results.
Goodwin finished third, just four votes behind Vince and Edwards and McLeod finished eighth and ninth on the leader board, respectively.
The good news continued when Chapman announced that Trent Hentschel and Brent Reilly had also signed contract extensions.
The Crows won’t cut any players from their senior list until the end of the exchange period next Friday.
However, the club has already indicated it will make minimal changes having invested strongly in youth over the past four years.
The AFL requires clubs to make at least three changes to their senior lists each year.
