Adelaide will reward the Club’s standout pre-season performers with first opportunity in the Crows’ opening NAB Challenge clash on Sunday.

After a tough summer slog, the Crows will line up against North Melbourne at Port Lincoln in the first of three pre-season matches.

Adelaide will then tackle Geelong at Simonds Stadium and Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium as preparations ramp up for the Club’s Round One fixture on April 5.

With the aid of an extended interchange for this weekend’s NAB Challenge opener, Crows assistant coach Matthew Clarke said Phil Walsh was eager to reward the players who’d impressed over the summer.

“I think one of the things he’s emphasised is a little bit of reward for those who have put in a really solid pre-season,” Clarke said on FIVEaa on Tuesday.

“That includes some of those younger guys.

“A few will get an opportunity, so that’s always exciting.”

Clarke named Mitch Grigg, Jarryd Lyons, Kyle Hartigan and Sam Kerridge as part of a band of emerging Crows who have enjoyed strong summers.

The former Crows ruckman also mentioned a hard-working veteran, who could be Adelaide’s best ‘new recruit’.

“van Berlo is probably one that wouldn’t fit into that category … but he’s had an impressive pre-season,” he said.

“Obviously, he runs ridiculously well, but if you can add things (to your game) in having 12 months off of footy, he’s done it.

“His touch and his handling around the stoppages have been really good and he’s kicking the ball really well.

“He’s an improved player from 12 months out of the game.”

The Crows’ new senior coach has already voiced his plans to expose several new faces in Adelaide’s opening pre-season hit-out.

Clarke said while Sunday’s game was an opportunity to introduce new players, the coaching panel would not take any unnecessary risks with Adelaide’s newest faces.

“We’ve been pretty conservative with our first-year draftees,” he said.

“The big emphasis for them is just physically getting them up to the standard so that they can compete and play AFL football. We’re taking a longer-term approach with those guys.

“But having said that, some of them have been super impressive and shown enough that they may well get a game.

“It may not be a full game, but we might try and get them in and have a little look at them for a half or a quarter on the weekend.”

The Crows will play North Melbourne once again at Adelaide Oval in Round One of the season proper just over a month after Sunday’s pre-season hit-out.

While premiership points are not up for grabs this weekend, Clarke said it was important Adelaide showed balance at the selection table for the clash against last year’s preliminary finalists.

“It’s a competitive hit-out so you want to make sure that the team is well-structured,” he said.

“As long as we’ve got all of the key posts looked after and we reward the guys who have had great pre-seasons then we’ll put on a pretty competitive performance.”