The Adelaide Crows would be shattered if emerging stars Patrick Dangerfield and Kurt Tippett left the AFL club, coach Brenton Sanderson says.

The Crows will soon announce a raft of re-signings but the two biggest deals – Victorian-born Dangerfield and Queenslander Tippett – aren’t among them.

Both players fall out of contract at season’s end amid likely offers from rival clubs.

“We’d love to keep them both,” Sanderson told reporters on Wednesday.

“If they both left, it would be shattering for the footy club.

“We’d have to start again in some areas.

“But that is something we’ll talk about later in the year.”

The first-year Crows coach said he wouldn’t meddle in contract negotiations with the key pair.

“It’s not my role to get too much involved with the contract negotiations,” Sanderson said.

“But all I can provide is an environment that the boys enjoy.

“I think we are seeing that with Kurt and also Danger at the moment. The boys are enjoying their footy – they’re in good form.

“The rest is up to them and their management groups to find a middle ground where every party is happy.

“That is (the) challenge with re-signing your best players – to ensure that we’re all happy.”

Tippett turned down a deal to join his native Gold Coast three years ago and is believed to have become Adelaide’s highest-paid player in the process.

Dangerfield has reportedly been a target of Victorian clubs including Geelong and Essendon for a return to his home state.

Adelaide are believed to have agreed to terms with young Victorian Rory Sloane, with Sanderson saying the club would announce “some good signings over the next few weeks”.

And the rookie coach hoped Tippett and Dangerfield later joined them.

“Hopefully the boys both decide to stay and they want to be involved with a club on its way up and that is going to play consistent finals footy down the track,” Sanderson said.