ADELAIDE will continue taking a balanced focus to its ongoing list build as it looks to compete in the coming years, but believes it is ready to start targeting more mature players to complement its raft of gun youngsters.

Despite still being among the youngest teams in the competition, the Crows have improved dramatically this season under coach Matthew Nicks and find themselves firmly in finals contention after an impressive 4-4 start to the campaign.

Having traded first-round picks in successive years to secure Jordan Dawson from Sydney and Izak Rankine from Gold Coast, Adelaide has recently started to shift its list management priorities to acquire more ready-made talent.

But the Crows have still used at least one first-round draft pick in every season dating back to 2013, banking eight in the last five years alone, with the club's recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie telling AFL.com.au's trade and draft show Gettable that it wanted to retain some balance.

"We've been a draft and develop team through this build, but we have to do a bit of that. We're not going to get five players from other clubs to come to Adelaide in one year, so we've had to do it that way," Ogilvie told Gettable.

"Clearly, Izak and Jordan were targets that we were specific on in terms of need and being South Australians coming back home. We'll continue to look at that. It won't always be possible, but we've clearly said we're ready and that's the next stage of the build.

"But this is a good draft. Maybe this is a draft to go with three or four picks and we don't trade or bring a free agent in."

Adelaide gave up a future first-round draft pick to secure Dawson from Sydney in 2021, with the former gun half-back becoming the club's captain and one of the League's best midfielders in his second season with the Crows.

"The credit really goes to (Adelaide list manager) Justin Reid and the coaches on that one and the guys doing the pro scouting, because they watched him and forecast it," Ogilvie said.

"We knew he was a very good player at Sydney. It's also a credit to Jordan and what he's done. His leadership is developing really, really well. You'd love to have one of those every year, but it's not always possible."

The club then parted with pick No.5, with a suite of other selections also changing hands, to secure Rankine from Gold Coast last October. Together, he has formed a prolific small forward partnership with Josh Rachele in the side's firing attack.

"He's been fantastic and he's fitted in seamlessly. The boys love him. Obviously, it helps when you know the town and you know the people. He'd been at the club before and trained with us, so that all helped," Ogilvie said.

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"He's got the speed that we knew we needed to add. Credit to him, he's worked really hard. We knew he was a really good runner. People underestimate how good a runner he is. His GPS is through the roof, because he's always up and back. In pre-season, he had the shoulder operation but he's done a power of work and it's a credit to Izak."