Some new faces are impressing in their first pre-season at West Lakes according to Adelaide midfielder Sam Berry.
Berry, who has played 39 AFL games since making his debut in 2021, has been taken aback by the athleticism and skills of No.8 draft pick Daniel Curtin.
But it’s not just Curtin who is catching eyes this summer, with trade recruit Chris Burgess looking “very sharp” since crossing over from Gold Coast in last off-season’s trade period.
“I think we’ll start with Dan Curtin,” Berry told SEN’s Sportsday in terms of who has impressed him.
“I mean, he’s an incredible athlete for his size to move as well as he does.
“I think he's going to be a really exciting player. He’s very skilful, very athletic. So he's trained very well.
“But all of them are trained very well, all three of the new draftees (Curtin, Charlie Edwards and Oscar Ryan).
“Then there’s Chris Burgess as well. He’s come in, he’s a mountain of a man.
“He’s very athletic and he has looked very sharp to start this pre-season.”
After finishing 10th last year, many are expecting Adelaide to improve in 2024 and one aspect that Berry knows they can tighten up on is their defence.
The Crows outscored every other team for total points in 2023 but leaked over 80 points per game. As a result, Berry says that limiting scores has been a clear priority this summer as Matthew Nicks looks to strike a better balance between offence and defence.
“I think it's hard to win if you allow teams to score, especially in finals footy,” he added.
“We really want to nullify teams scoring, but we also want to keep our offence, which is I guess our weapon. Our forward line has so much talent, we just want to keep that ball in there.
“But yeah, obviously we need to limit those scores against.”
While there’s now some genuine expectation surrounding the Crows, Berry says the playing group is welcoming it as they are ready to do everything they can to feature in September for the first time since 2017.
“I think so (that expectations have risen), but we're ready for that, we want that expectation,” Berry said.
“Obviously we need to fix a few things - winning away, we didn't do as well as we would have liked.
“Already now, we know that the expectation externally and internally for us to play finals is there and it's real.
“We're going to do everything we can to achieve it.”
Adelaide begin their 2024 campaign with a Round 1 clash against Gold Coast at Heritage Bank Stadium on Saturday, March 16.
Photo: @Adelaide_FC Twitter.
