ADELAIDE captain Nathan van Berlo says the Crows are determined to not repeat their terrible start to 2010 when their NAB Cup campaign kicks off on Friday night.

Last year, the club lost its NAB Cup opener against Port Adelaide by 56 points and failed to notch up a win until its last pre-season game against Melbourne at Elizabeth.

Adelaide’s poor pre-season form carried over to the season proper, with the club losing its opening six games.

A high-injury count contributed to the Crows’ disastrous start in 2010 and van Berlo was a hopeful a more favourable run with injury this summer would result in more wins on the board early this season.

“We had some troubles early on last year…whether that was due to our rigorous training program or just some bad luck I’m not sure, but this year we’ve done things differently and we’ve come through with the majority of the group in good health,” van Berlo said on Monday.

“We want to improve on last year- that’s our No.1 priority and with that comes a faster and a better start to the season.

“Our group’s main aim is to get ourselves back to where we belong, which is fighting to play finals footy and playing a competitive brand of footy, which we felt like we fell away from last year particularly early in the year.

“Hopefully, we’ve learned from the poor start we had last season and how we can do things better early in the year.”

Only David Mackay (groin), Bernie Vince (knee), Sam Shaw (back) and Will Young (shoulder) have been ruled out of Adelaide’s NAB Cup round one matches against Port Adelaide and Melbourne at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.

New recruit Sam Jacobs sat out last week’s internal trial with a hand complaint, but is expected to line up for his new club on Friday, while Chris Knights (corked quad) and comeback kid Andy Otten (ankle) will face fitness tests after picking up minor injuries in the trial.

Forward Matthew Jaensch had tests on his sore groin over the weekend, but has been cleared of any damage and is also a chance to play against the Power and the Dees.

The Crows, who play the first and last game of the AAMI Stadium triple-header, will be allowed to play an unlimited number of players across the two games, whereas Port Adelaide and Melbourne will be limited to squads of 29.

On Monday, Power coach Matthew Primus suggested Adelaide was at an advantage because it was able to give games to its entire playing list but van Berlo disagreed, saying the club would’ve preferred to play fewer players.

“I think it’s a disadvantage that we’ve got a 90-minute break in between games and we’ve got to play two different sides. I think ideally we’d probably like to play one side and play four-straight quarters, but you can look at it either way,” van Berlo said.

“There’ll be two different squads. There’ll be a number of players, who play both games, but it’ll provide a lot of opportunities for guys to put their hands up and show they want games further into the pre-season competition.”