ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson still has another season left on his initial three-year deal but would be keen to extend it early, claiming a bright future is ahead at West Lakes.

It was reported on Tuesday night that the Crows had already approached Sanderson's management about extending his stay at the club.
Sanderson insisted that looming contract talks wouldn't prove a distraction next season.

"There's certainly no rush, I haven't really spoken about it to anyone to be honest … if it ends up that the club offers me a contract extension, I'd be really thrilled with that," Sanderson said.

"The relationship's really strong [with the club], I really like it here, I've become quickly attached to this young group.

"If the club says to me they'd like to extend my contract I'd certainly sit down with them, but whether it's the end of this year or the end of next year, it's no real issue for me."

While the Crows have failed to live up to expectations in 2013, Sanderson said next season was full of promise for the young team – headlined by its move to the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.

"We've seen this week with Michael Voss and the changing landscape with coaching, Fremantle targeting Ross Lyon 18 months ago, success is really important," he said.

"You've got to have a short-term and long-term vision of where you want the club to go and I'm really excited with the move to Adelaide Oval next year, we get a few guys back from injury - I think we're going to be a really strong, young side for a few years to come.

"The future's really bright for our team."

More immediately, Sanderson said the club was focused on Sunday's clash with the Western Bulldogs.

Ricky Henderson will miss the game with a knee injury, but Scott Thompson is set to play despite being subbed out of last weekend's game against North Melbourne.

Sanderson denied injury had any part to play in the decision to sub the veteran, insisting the Crows just needed extra run.

It was another forgettable game for the two-time reigning club champion; his afternoon ending with just 11 disposals.

Having averaged more than 30 disposals a game in his last two seasons, Thompson has dropped off this year, averaging 24 disposals a game.

While still declaring him Adelaide's "best clearance player", Sanderson conceded the 30-year-old had struggled to adapt to a faster game.

"The game's sort of changed a little bit, it hasn't suited him as much as it probably did in the last few seasons.

"The way the umpires this year are throwing the ball up, [the issue has] been getting from contest to contest for him.

"He's still our best clearance player, he's still our bull inside the contest.

"But we're seeing now, with the way the game's being played, it's much more continuous … he's struggled to get from contest to contest as much as he probably would have liked.

"He's carried some little niggles throughout the season, it hasn't been his best year, but we still value his contribution as much as anyone else in the team."

Twitter: @AFL_Harry