ADELAIDE stalwart Taylor Walker says he's grateful to his Indigenous teammates for effectively allowing him to extend his career after a racism ban.

Walker will play a 16th AFL season next year after signing a fresh one-year contract with the Crows.

He says a sense of gratitude to the Crows and his Indigenous teammates was a factor in rejecting longer-term offers from rival clubs.

Walker was banned for six matches by the AFL for making a racist remark at a state league match last August.

Adelaide's Indigenous players were initially uneasy at Walker returning to the club but softened their stance – after a spell away, the key forward returned to pre-season training and then to AFL action in round four this year.

"Obviously it's pretty well documented what occurred last year," Walker told reporters on Tuesday.

"And the club have been outstanding in integrating me back into the footy club, so that certainly is a little factor of what helped me make my decision (to stay) as well.

"I said nearly 12 months ago that my ability to integrate back into the group and build those relationships with the ones that I had broken were my key – football wasn't really a priority for me.

"And I have been able to do that.

"Have I got some work to do? Yeah, always. Until the day I drop off this planet, I am still going to be doing work in that area.

"But getting back playing footy has given me a bit of an outlet, to be honest."

Asked about his current relationships with Adelaide's Indigenous players, Walker replied:"We are taking small steps but we're going in the right direction.

"I feel very comfortable with where it's at but I will just continue to chip away and earn that trust and respect back as much as I can," he said.

The 32-year-old Walker was proud of his response to the racism row, both off-field and on.

"I would class myself as a pretty resilient person," he said.

"To go through what I have the last probably 12 months, or even through my career if you look over some of the hurdles I have had to jump, I class myself as pretty resilient.

"So to be able get through what I have with my family the last 12 months I am super-proud.

"But I am also very, very lucky to have the people around me that I have had."

And he was unfazed at how the wider public perceived him.

"To be quite honest, it doesn't really worry me what people have to say," he said.

"I know what I have to do. And the people that are close to me know what I am doing and what I have to do.

"So if they're happy, then I'm happy."