St Kilda have lodged a contract offer with outgoing Adelaide midfielder Brad Crouch ahead of the AFL free agency period.

Last week, restricted free agent Crouch nominated the Saints as his preferred destination.

Whether Adelaide accept a compensation draft pick or force a trade will depend on the level of compensation they are offered - which is tied to St Kilda’s contract offer - when the free agency period kicks off on Friday.

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“I’m not sure what the compensation will look like for the Crows,” St Kilda list manager James Gallagher told AFL Trade Radio.

“We’ve put what we think is a really fair deal to Brad, taking all things into consideration.

“We are still working through the finer points of it with his management over the course of the next few days as we head into free agency.

“I think you’ll get a reasonable idea on what the deal looks like when the compensation is announced shortly after we lodge with the AFL.”

Gallagher said the Saints were in the final stages of securing a new contract for defender Ben Paton, and also expected contracted duo Luke Dunstan and Jimmy Webster to stay put.

The Saints have new deals in front of Jake Carlisle and Jack Lonie.

They are also considering delisted Essendon forward Shaun McKernan as a foil for Max King and Tim Membrey.

St Kilda aren’t keen to spend big on another tall forward and McKernan, who booted 51 goals in 53 games for Essendon, would be a cheap depth option.

“It’s not an area of the ground that we’re going to throw a lot of assets and money and those sort of things at,” Gallagher said.

“That’s not to be disrespectful to anyone we may bring in.

“We think we’ve got our No.1 forward for a number of years but it’s an area we need some more support in I reckon, because we could be left exposed if we get the wrong injury in the wrong position.”