Darley, who played 20 AFL games for GWS and Western Bulldogs, oversaw his first training session on Tuesday and is confident the Crows have what it takes to be competitive when the Riverina League returns to normality this year.

Giants Academy under-19 squad member Jason Bourke was a notable attendee at training and Darley is confident in the squad he has.

But he admitted he "won't be saying no" should a key forward become available after the departures of experienced pair Jade Hodge and Daniel Muir, and young livewire Cooper Sharman.

"Key forward is a massive one, but in local footy they don't exactly grow on trees," he said.

"If all goes well and the midfield's on top there's be times when I can go forward and isolate myself. It all depends on how we're going on the ball.

"But if a key forward pops up between now and then, I won't be saying no."

Although all teams will have a high player turnover rate due to last year's unique circumstances, the Crows will have to fill a void left by their forward trio, captain Bryce O'Garey, midfield gun and last year's best and fairest Lucas Meline, and Mitch Hardie.

"I'll talk to Bryce a bit closer to the season and see if he has itchy feet, but I was impressed by the boys who showed up (at training)," Daley said.

"I missed last year and I'm looking forward to playing myself, which will help replace that a bit, but I'm also hopeful some of the younger guys step up.

"We won't be the only club that has a few good players go back to other leagues, and at the end of the day it will be a learning curve for me.

"I'll probably rely a lot on Matt Rainbird, who will be my assistant, for intel on opposition clubs and what we're up against.

Darley has coached North Shore in the Geelong Football League, as well as the Tasmanian under-16 representative side in 2019.

"I'm pretty optimistic. The history of where I've been, other than North Hobart a couple of years ago has been winning, and the expectation is we'll still be thereabouts and winning games," he said.

"At the end of the day we're playing a game, you have to be careful not to lose that enjoyment and it's much more enjoyable when you're playing attacking footy.

"I'm pretty big on being hard around contests and effort, but outside that I'll be asking blokes to take the game on, which will be exciting for people to watch and exciting to be a part of."

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