Sam Berry never thought he would earn an AFL debut in his first season at the Crows, let alone in Round One.

But to his surprise, the contested ball-winning beast earned a call-up to Adelaide’s senior side for the opening round clash against Geelong.

Not only did he make a strong impression with seven tackles, he was also fortunate enough to get a win.

With the bye round in full swing, Berry said his first AFL game was the highlight so far.

“The debut game is probably up there with one of the best days of my life,” Berry said.

“I didn’t see my parents in the crowd but I could definitely hear them.

“I had some cousins come over as well and I had probably six or seven mates from Melbourne drive over and they were on the boundary.

“It was pretty exciting to see them straight after the game.

“Everything went to plan and obviously getting the win and being lucky enough to play Round One was all just a whirlwind, it was very surreal.”

Berry, 19, grew up in Maffra in country Victoria, before the Crows selected him with Pick No. 28 at the 2020 AFL National Draft.

He has played 11 matches so far and hopes to add to that after the mid-season break.

“I want to work on my consistency and keep improving,” Berry said.

“Coming in, I think I’ve slowly seen my confidence go up but I’d just like to see my performances go up as well.

“I’ve really enjoyed it (so far).

“This has definitely been the most enjoyable year of footy I’ve ever had.”

Away from the footy field, Berry describes himself as a “pretty active” person and is studying business at university.

“Golf is something I spend a fair bit of time doing, especially when I first got here,” Berry said.

“I love going surfing and catching up with people, looking around Adelaide considering it’s a place I had never really been to.

“There’s still heaps of stuff to see and places to go to.”