Adelaide Head of Development Marco Bello says there are lots of different things put in place to help the Crows’ youngsters become great players, as well as great people.

Bello and his development team, which includes Matthew Wright, Jack Hombsch, Chelsea Randall and SANFL Senior Coach Mick Godden, have put together a set of “building blocks” to guide the young players.

Speaking on this week’s episode of The Crows Show, Bello said getting players AFL-ready was just one component of the development team’s role.

“We basically have building blocks (for) the first to third year (players) especially,” Bello said.

“We look to build their habits from on-field, the technical, tactical components to it, as well as the physical.

“Do they have an understanding of the physical, with the tactical component, the technical, are they working on their craft, are they building the right habits to ensure they’re improving in their area?

“The other pillars are the off-field ones… what are they doing to get their head space away from football at times and to ensure they’ve got something to look forward to away from football.”

Bello arrived at West Lakes in December 2020, after spending seven years at Hawthorn, serving as Box Hill’s VFL coach, a development coach and Head of Football Academy.

He said younger players who lined up in the Crows’ SANFL side were given the perfect platform to help catapult into the AFL side.

“It’s a very strong breeding ground and the SANFL does a very good job of making sure the competition is at a very high level,” Bello said.

“It enables us to play at the highest level, that’s the stepping stone for us, to play finals SANFL football because that’s as close as you’re probably going to get to a Round One to 22 AFL football game.

“It allows us to challenge those AFL players to continue to push themselves and it’s an all-encompassing structure that enables us to play a good brand of football both at SANFL and AFL level.”

Also on this week’s episode of The Crows Show, two-time AFLW Premiership star Danielle Ponter chats about her connection to this year’s Indigenous guernsey and Ned McHenry joins Ben Keays to speak about his Whopper Moment.

The Crows Show airs on Channel 7 on Saturday at 1pm.