Adelaide midfielder Rory Sloane believes a tough conversation about his leadership shortcomings with his late coach Phil Walsh helped him become a more influential teammate.

Sloane was overlooked for the captaincy in the lead-up to the 2015 season, with Walsh choosing Taylor Walker to replace Nathan van Berlo. Sloane and Patrick Dangerfield had shared the stand-in captaincy duties in 2014 after injury forced van Berlo to miss the whole season.

"I still remember the chat I had with Phil when he told me 'Tex' was going to be captain. My first thought was how pumped I was for 'Tex'. My second reaction was, 'Right, what do I need to improve on (and) why wasn't it me?'," Sloane said in the fourth installment of AFL Media's The Chase video series.

"It was (about) giving feedback to guys and holding coaches accountable. He wanted to see more of that."

Sloane, 27, has been a genuine star of the competition in recent years, winning the Crows' best and fairest and being named an All Australian last season.

Described by Adelaide great Mark Ricciuto as "a competitive animal", Sloane has also emerged as a more vocal and influential teammate.

Sloane said his life-long aim as a player has been to lead a Club to a premiership.

"You don’t need a title," he said.

"It (not being captain) will never change the way I behave as a footballer."