Adelaide pre-season training notes: Mark Keane impresses, young guns remain on light duties

Collingwood circled Mark Keane for much of last year, only for the defender to stay in Adelaide. And as SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON reports, the Irishman looms as a key figure as the Crows chase a finals return.

It was a coup for Adelaide that Mark Keane rejected former club Collingwood’s advances at the end of last season.

And the signs are the Crows were wise to pony up.

The Irishman is on track to become one of Adelaide’s defensive linchpins in 2025 after making an impressive start to pre-season.

Keane played 21 games for the Crows in 2024 and his performances as a key defender caught the eye of the Magpies, who tried to lure him back to Melbourne as they hunted backline reinforcements.

But Keane instead signed a three-year contract extension in September, much to the delight of the Crows.

Collingwood tried to lure Mark Keane back to Victoria.

But the Irishman instead chose to stay with Adelaide.

At pre-season training on Saturday, he showed just why Adelaide was so keen to keep him.

The 24-year-old was outstanding at West Lakes in the Crows’ match play, showcasing his competitive edge.

Toby Murray felt Keane’s physicality, with Keane taking him out in a marking contest.

The incident drew the ire of Crows veteran Rory Laird, who let the Irishman know about his feelings on it.

But while it seems that a flashpoint is never too far away with Keane at times, there is no doubt he is a competitive beast.

Last year Keane emerged as arguably the Crows’ best key defender, with Nick Murray and Jordon Butts having injury-impacted seasons.

Murray has impressed Crows coaches this pre-season after he returned from an ACL injury to feature in nine games last year.

Recruit Isaac Cumming is set to rejoin training next week after doing a lot of running and kicking drills away from the main group on Saturday.

The former Giant suffered a hamstring strain last month, but his rehab has progressed smoothly.

Apart from Cumming and ruckman Kieran Strachan, the full Crows list trained on Saturday.

Draftees Sid Draper and Tyler Welsh continue to be managed but worked at a higher intensity than they did earlier in the week.

Draper had one moment during match-play that showed why he went No. 4 in the draft, with his speed on show as he darted through traffic.

Rory Laird looks to be heading back into defence. Picture: Dean Martin

Welsh’s best moment was with a fine snap goal from the boundary after taking a mark.

Young gun Riley Thilthorpe took part in most of the session, while Jake Soligo looks like he is going to build on his breakout 2024.

At one stage, Soligo ran nearly the entire length of the ground to lay a chase-down tackle.

Laird was often in defence, where he ended 2025, and a return to the backline full time looks to be on the cards.

Izak Rankine was behind the ball a lot more than he has been, doing a lot of defensive work.

He still had his brilliant moments around the ball and going forward but after some of his defensive efforts around the ball were questioned in 2024 — was this the Crows coaches working on this?

Young gun Dan Curtin continues to play more around the ball, while veteran Taylor Walker was the most vocal of the Crows players and extremely pleased with their efforts.

He and Thilthorpe sat out the 150m and 100m runs to end the session.

Originally published as Adelaide pre-season training notes: Mark Keane impresses, young guns remain on light duties