Adelaide board member Mark Ricciuto says the Crows are confident of retaining star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield beyond next season.

The 24-year-old Victorian will qualify for free agency at the end of 2015, but Dangerfield has publicly indicated he wants to remain at West Lakes.

Speculation surrounding the vice-captain’s future has intensified since Brenton Sanderson's departure from the Club last week, but Ricciuto said Dangerfield was an integral part of Adelaide’s future plans.

"We'll get the contract right, we'll pay [Dangerfield] what he needs to be paid, but we've got to get the culture, environment and everything right so that he can win a premiership, because he wants to win one," Ricciuto said.

"At the moment we've got a few things going on. Once we get that right I'm sure Paddy Dangerfield will want to be a long-term player with the Crows."

Ricciuto said the key to Adelaide retaining its marquee man was for the Club to demonstrate its commitment to long-term success.

"I didn't say there'd be no chance, and I didn't say we'd trade him.What I said was we have to get everything right so that it's a fair callto ask him to stay long term,' he said.

Dangerfield told the Nine Network last Thursday that speculation about his future - and that of teammates Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane - at the Crows was "ridiculous".

"In terms of discussing my contract ... it's premature. We're in a transitional period with our coach and it's not something that needs to be discussed," he said.

"I love the city, I love the Club, I love playing there. And that's all that needs to be said."

Meanwhile, Ricciuto insisted the Crows "didn't pull the trigger too early" on Sanderson, despite admitting the Club wasn't 100 per cent sure of Simon Goodwin's status at the time.

Goodwin agreed to terms with Melbourne to become Paul Roos' successor the very next day.

"There's more coaches out there than Simon Goodwin, we don't need an ex-Adelaide guy to coach the Adelaide Football Club.

"There's other guys that have been out there (who) have been looking to be a head coach for a while and some that have done it before.

Ricciuto said the board's focus was on the structure of the entire football department and not just the coach.

"It's about the whole footy department now, it's not about one man. One man can't do the job anymore. It's a number of blokes that have got to lead the footy club," he said.