Second-year Crow Jake Lever wants to follow in the footsteps of backline mentor Daniel Talia and develop into a strong leader at the Club.
Adelaide’s first pick at the 2014 National Draft, Lever exceeded all expectations on and off the field in his first year at West Lakes.
After missing the entire 2014 season due to a knee reconstruction, the 194cm defender went about his rehabilitation diligently and quickly earned an AFL debut against Gold Coast in Round Six. Lever played a total of 12 games in his first year of senior football, including the last eight straight games of the minor round in a row, despite often being matched against opponents of superior size, strength and experience.
The former Vic Metro captain, who turns 20 next month, says the next step in his development is to improve his leadership skills to assist 2014 Club Champion Talia.
“It’s something that I would like to learn off him (Talia). Leadership I think is something that I could provide for the team,” Lever said.
“I think Tals is a fantastic leader down there. Even though he’s young, he really took hold of the backline (last year) and led really well.
“I think this year, one of the focuses for us is ‘everyone’s a leader’. You can’t rely on Tals to do it every week. We always have to help him out.
“To have Tals to learn off is fantastic.”
All Australian Talia is recognised as one of the best one-on-one defenders in the competition, and is handed the task of standing the opposition’s most dangerous forward almost every week. Rarely is he beaten.
Lever said he wants to emulate his mentor’s consistency on the field in 2016.
“I think a big focus point for me this year and a goal is to impact every game I play,” he said.
“Whether that be in the SANFL or the AFL, I just want to impact every game that I play and therefore it will keep me in the side.”
Lever said he’s relished his first full pre-season at Adelaide after having his workload managed last summer.
“Obviously last year, being a new guy coming in, I probably didn’t do as much as everyone else,” he said.
“The first year you get treated really well coming in and get eased into it. This year, (I’ve been) running more and lifting more weights.
“This pre-season I haven’t really been held back. It’s been good to be out there with the boys all the time.”
