ADELAIDE has backed experience in its quest to atone for this year's Grand Final defeat, assembling what will be the oldest list in the competition in 2018.

The Crows had the seventh oldest group in 2017 but have rocketed to the top through the recruitment of midfielders Sam Gibson, 31, and Bryce Gibbs, 28, and two mature-age rookies.

It has lifted their average age as of round one next season to 24 years and 192 days, ahead of Hawthorn (24 and 179), Collingwood (24 and 98), Geelong (24 and 95) and Greater Western Sydney (24 and 16).

The Crows have a League average of three players over 30, but they lead the competition for players aged 25-29, with 19 (equal with Geelong).

Hawthorn has the Crows covered for average games experience, with 74, also leading the competition for average goals (59) and players with 100-199 games played (14).

Premiers Richmond are sitting in a strong list position after investing in the NAB AFL Draft rather than reloading with experience for 2018.

Clubs ranked from oldest average age to youngest*

Figures based on entire club's list, including category B rookies

RANKING CLUB AVERAGE AGE (YEARS, DAYS) 1. ADEL Adelaide 24 192 2. HAW Hawthorn 24 179 3. COLL Collingwood 24 98 4. GEEL Geelong 24 95 5. PORT Port Adelaide 24 50 6. GWS Greater Western Sydney 24 16 7. ESS Essendon 23 355 8. SYD Sydney 23 343 9. MELB Melbourne 23 335 10. FRE Fremantle 23 292 11. WCE West Coast 23 282 12. WB Western Bulldogs 23 259 13. RICH Richmond 23 255 14. CARL Carlton 23 244 15. STK St Kilda 23 201 16. BL Brisbane Lions 23 128 17. NMFC North Melbourne 23 117 18. GCFC Gold Coast 23 22

*Stats supplied by AFL statistician Cameron Sinclair



Only five clubs – the Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Gold Coast, North Melbourne and St Kilda – have younger lists than the Tigers, with ruckman Shaun Hampson the only player who will enter the season aged 30 or older.

After entering 2017 having played 65 finals collectively – compared to Hawthorn's 313 and Sydney's 267 – last year's premiership run has given the Tigers 114 games of September experience.

Gold Coast is the least experienced team in finals, with captain Gary Ablett taking his 17 games of September experience with him to Geelong and dropping the Suns' total to 31.

St Kilda (32) and Melbourne (44) are also very green when it comes to playing finals and both will be expecting to add experience in 2018.

Only six clubs have fewer than 100 games finals experience, with Carlton (56), Essendon (63) and the Brisbane Lions (65) the others.

Three clubs will go into next season with five 200-game players – Geelong, Port Adelaide and Sydney – while St Kilda will have none after the retirements of Nick Riewoldt, Leigh Montagna and Sean Dempster.

West Coast has the most players on its list yet to debut with 16 after adding six players through the national draft and three new rookies.

First-year players Daniel Venables, Josh Rotham, Willie Rioli and Jake Waterman, second-year tall forward Matthew Allen, and category-B rookies Tarir Bayok and Francis Watson didn't play in 2017.

Summary of 2018 AFL club lists