Adelaide have vowed to take a tough-line stance with AFL rivals Geelong when seeking adequate compensation for departing superstar Patrick Dangerfield.
Crows chief executive Andrew Fagan says his club know what compensation they want for Dangerfield but won't detail it publicly.
"We have got a pretty firm view as to what we are after," Fagan told reporters on Thursday.
"We are really clear about what that value or that appropriate compensation is. Now it's a negotiation."
Fagan baulked at confirming Adelaide would match Geelong's offer for the brilliant midfielder and thereby force the Cats to strike a trade.
"I know you would love me to say it but the process is more complex than that," he said.
"We will go as hard as we need to to try and get what we want."
If the Crows don't match Geelong's reported $5 million, six-year offer, the AFL will decide compensation - as it stands, currently pick 14 in the national draft.
Adelaide consider that well shy of fair compensation for an elite player like Dangerfield, who cited family reasons for leaving the Crows.
"We did everything that we could possibly do to keep him," Fagan said.
"In Patty's own words, if it was just on the football club, on the health of the football program, on the chances of future success here ... then he would have no reason to leave but for a compulsion to go home and be back in Geelong with his family and (partner) Mardi's family."
Dangerfield told Crows hierarchy of his decision to leave in August and Fagan said he wasn't uncomfortable at having to keep it secret until season's end.
"I only knew because of the undertaking that was made to keep it confidential should he be prepared to tell us," he said.
"If that undertaking wasn't provided, he wouldn't have told us. Like most other free agents, you'd be finding out sometime during October.
"The whole process has been handled as well as possible. It's not easy."
Dangerfield would be welcomed at Adelaide's club champion function on Saturday night when the 25-year-old is favourite to win the award, Fagan said.
And the Crows would be happy for Dangerfield if he won the Brownlow medal on Monday night.
"He would have won the Brownlow medal playing for the Adelaide Football Club and that will be a unique part of the club for years to come, I guess, and will make for some good bar-room discussion," Fagan said.
"If he earns that right and he wins that award, the Adelaide Football Club will be pleased for him."
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