Dermie offers tips on Tippett

PLAY him as a stay-at-home deep forward or don't bother.

Kurt Tippett

PLAY him as a stay-at-home deep forward or don't bother.

Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton says Adelaide star Kurt Tippett's imposing 202cm, 104kg frame put him in the $500,000-plus-a-year bracket, but has warned potential suitors the Suns and Lions that he is not a multi-dimensional matchwinner.

The two Queensland clubs are circling the Queensland-born Crow, who Brereton says would command a start in every side in the AFL.

Brereton, who sits alongside Wayne Carey and Jonathan Brown as the greatest centre-half forwards of the modern era, described Tippett as an "exceptional player" and one of the best contested marks in the competition.

The Crow did not score in Adelaide's finals loss to Sydney last Saturday, and is a key figure when Adelaide take on Fremantle's pressure in tonight's first semi-final at AAMI Stadium.

As Sydney showed last week, stop Tippett from marking the ball and you take him out of the game.

"What makes Kurt so good is also his detracting element," Brereton said.

"He is so good overhead, he takes a lot of contested marks but he is not all that agile. He doesn't destroy teams once the ball hits the ground.

"Jon Brown and Wayne Carey could do it in the air and on the ground. When you have a key forward who can do it both, you have a beast.

"Most of Kurt's eggs are in the basket of marking. When the ball doesn't find its way to him, he is not that capable of influencing the direction of a game."

The five-time Hawthorn premiership player said the money the Lions or Suns would have to pay Tippett to lure him home, reported to be $600,000 a year, should not be a consideration because players of his size are so hard to find.

Brereton feels the 25-year-old has already demonstrated the peak of his powers, but says improvement could come from greater consistency.

But he also warned his value diminished if he was expected to also play in the ruck.

"To me he is a forward, but he is mechanical, not natural," he said.

"I don't think he does that well in the ruck and I think it harms his ability up forward."

Former Adelaide recruiting manager Matthew Rendell has revealed the Crows recruited Josh Jenkins specifically to cover the loss of Tippett.

Rendell said Adelaide were so uncertain that Tippett would remain at the club that they targeted then Essendon rookie Jenkins as a possible replacement.

"What we did last year, thinking he (Tippett) might go at the end of this year, was to go and source another ruckman. That's why we went after Josh Jenkins," Rendell said.