Van Berlo, who made his AFL debut last season after being drafted from Perth, said the club’s second-year players understood they had an important role to play with the newest Crows.
He said first-year players often struggled to cope with the demands of the AFL and could benefit from some help and advice from team-mates who had faced similar challenges a year earlier.
“I think all of us realise we have to step up and make the transition easier for the young guys who have just come in by being there for them and just giving them a helping hand out on the training track,” he said.
“If they are not sure what is going on it is up to us to help them out and point them in the right direction. And when Craigy does tell them that their kicks are not good enough and that, we need to try to make them realise it is to better them, we are trying to fast track them as footballers.”
Van Berlo arrived at West Lakes late in 2004 and after making an immediate impression on the training forced his way into the Adelaide side for 11 games.
But he said this did not guarantee him more individual success this year.
“I’m just trying to do as much as I can in terms of extra work just to get myself up to speed to make sure that kind of lapse doesn’t occur,” Van Berlo said.
“I haven’t set myself a goal … it’s just exactly what I did last year which was just try each week to put my name up for selection and go about doing things the right way and seeing where that puts myself in the whole scheme of things. The way I see it, if I’m doing all I can I can’t ask any more of myself.”
