ADELAIDE is angry at being left in the dark over homesick forward Jack Gunston's decision to quit the club, and request a trade back to Victoria.

Gunston sparked controversy last week when he sensationally walked out on the Crows, and refused to attend the club champion presentation on Friday night.

The 19-year-old was to receive the Mark Bickley Award recognising the achievements of a first or second-year player on and off the field, but his non-attendance at the function prompted the club to re-award the honour to defender Daniel Talia.

There had been speculation the former Haileybury College student wanted to return to Melbourne to be closer to family and friends, but Adelaide remained confident of re-signing him after starting negotiations on a new contract with his management.

Crows football operations manager Phil Harper said he was "dumbfounded" when Gunston, drafted only two years ago with pick No.29 in the NAB AFL Draft, asked for a trade to a Victorian-based club last Thursday.

"I'd met with Jack's manager … and the manager said Jack was happy with everything and that everything was going well," Harper told FIVEaa.

"His manager asked if we could tweak this a bit and tweak that a bit [in regards to the contract], and we did and sent it back to them thinking it would be done in the next day or so.

"Then Jack came and saw us on Thursday. He basically said he was homesick, that he was getting on a plane and going home in two hours and he didn't want to come back.

"The bottom line was that Jack was scared his mates would put him under pressure to stay [if he attended the club champion awards].

"It was an interesting conversation because Jack was quite upset and myself and [list manager] David Noble were quite dumbfounded."

Harper and chief executive Steven Trigg met with Gunston in Melbourne over the weekend.

Adelaide hasn't given up hope of retaining the 193cm forward, but it's more likely the club will have to agree to a trade, with Hawthorn, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs all showing interest in the second-year Crow.

Carlton is also believed to be keen on the promising 14-game player.

"We're still talking to Jack, and who knows? He may still end up playing at the Adelaide Football Club," Harper said.

"If he doesn't end up back here we'll be looking for the absolute best deal because he's talented and we'd want something good in return.

"We gave him a chance and we stuck by him because he did have some homesickness problems in his first year, which we did know about and tried to help with.

"The hardest part for us in this was that we didn't know there was a problem.

"In fact, we were given all the indications there was no problem.

"If we'd known we would've loved the opportunity to help him through what is a difficult thing for a young man to move away from home."

Gunston's likely departure is a heavy blow for the Crows, who have lost key-position players Phil Davis (GWS), Scott Stevens (retirement) and Nathan Bock (Gold Coast) in the past 12 months.

The club is also bracing for the loss of second-string ruckman Ivan Maric, who has been linked to Richmond and cross-town rivals Port Adelaide.

Talia remains unsigned, but Harper was confident a new deal with the former first-round draft pick would be struck by the end of the week.

Defender Tony Armstrong is also yet to re-sign and is weighing up his options.

Armstrong is happy in Adelaide, but is believed to have attracted interest from clubs interstate after falling out of favour at West Lakes in the first half of the season.

The Crows will meet with the skillful backman again on Tuesday.

Harper dismissed ongoing speculation midfielder Chris Knights also wanted to return to Melbourne.

"I sat down and spoke to Chris because I've heard those same rumours and he said the furthest thing from his mind was going back to Melbourne," Harper said.

"He wants to see out his contract here and hopefully be contracted beyond that time. As far as I'm concerned he'll be staying."

The Crows are unlikely to make any announcement on list changes until the conclusion of the AFL exchange period in October.