Nathan van Berlo will remain as Adelaide captain in a new era under first-time coach Brenton Sanderson, while promising young players Patrick Dangerfield and Rory Sloane have also been included in the Club’s 2012 leadership group.

Experienced campaigners Scott Thompson (vice-captain), who won the Crows Club Champion award in his first year in the leadership group last season, and Ben Rutten (deputy vice-captain) round out the five-man group.

Van Berlo, 25, became the youngest-ever captain at Adelaide last year following the retirement of dual- premiership player Simon Goodwin at the end of 2010.

The 138-game player endured a difficult first season as skipper, but Sanderson said he had no doubt van Berlo was the right person to lead the Club in 2012.

“Scott Thompson and Ben Rutten are fantastic servants and are really loyal to the Club and the culture of the group, but ‘VB’ is just the standout,” Sanderson told afc.com.au.

“When you’re inside the Club and you see how he trains and the way he goes about his life, he’s clearly the perfect choice as the captain of our footy club.

“He’s someone the players admire and I think he’ll be captain of the footy club for a few more years to come.”

Dangerfield and Sloane, both 21, are two of the youngest leadership group members in the Club’s history.

Dangerfield has played 64 games since being selected by Adelaide with pick No.10 in the 2007 AFL Draft, while Sloane has made 33 appearances in three years at West Lakes.

Dangerfield and Sloane have both displayed strong on-field leadership since arriving at the Club and Sanderson said the uncompromising pair was ready to assume official roles.

“Paddy and Rory have both had fantastic summers. They’ve showed not only to the new coaches, who have come into the group, but to the existing coaches that they’re more than ready to be in the leadership group,” he said.

“They’ve really stood out as the players that are ready to take that step.

“They can obviously both have an impact on match day with the way they play, but they also show a lot of empathy particularly towards the younger group of guys.

“We have a young list and Paddy and Sloaney just have such a good connection with the group.

“They’ll also challenge the older guys in the group with some new ideas about where the Club might be heading from a cultural point of view.

“I think they’ll be perfect fits for those roles.”

Just below the senior leadership group is a group of ‘emerging leaders’, which includes former best-and-fairest winners Bernie Vince and Richard Douglas, forward Kurt Tippett, ruckman Sam Jacobs and exciting duo David Mackay and Jared Petrenko.

The group will be mentored by veteran Michael Doughty, who has stepped down from his role in the senior leadership group.

Sanderson said the emerging leaders would work closely with new leadership development manager Paddy Steinfort to improve their leadership skills.

“They’re all quite young, but along with Paddy and ‘Sloaney’ those six players will probably fill our leadership group in the near future,” Sanderson said.

“Those guys will act as support for the leadership group.

“They’ll receive a fair bit of education and training throughout the season, defining what leadership is and refining their individual skills.

“They’ll work with Paddy Steinfort and we have a guy like Mark Bickley, who as a dual-premiership player is one of the Club’s best-ever captains, on staff too.

“We’ll also source as many external leadership sources as we can up-skill and fast-track those guys to the next stage of their leadership.”

A former CEO of Leading Teams in New Zealand, qualified physiotherapist, AFL-listed player at Richmond and Victorian Amateur League coach, Steinfort was headhunted to run the Crows’ revamped leadership program.

Although a student of the Leading Teams program, Steinfort has evolved the program through his experiences operating outside of the AFL, and outside of Australia, to be more flexible in its application in different contexts and environments.

In contrast to recent years, the leadership group wasn’t voted on by the entire playing squad.

Instead, Sanderson and Steinfort sought advice from a dozen senior players and other key people around the Club.

“We’ve gone away from any sort of distinct model, but what we did do is spend a lot of time talking with management, talking with coaches, talking with senior players and just spending time with individuals to see how they interact with the group,” he said.

“We’ve got 10 first-year players and quite a few second and third-year players, who probably still don’t really understand what leadership entails.

“Those five guys were the standouts and the next six players in line weren’t too far behind.

“The model itself, with one captain, one vice-captain and one deputy vice-captain is a little bit old school.

“In the past a lot of clubs, including Adelaide, have had a captain and three vice-captains, but we wanted to make it a bit more traditional and go with a format that was really clear to the players.”