We must make the most of this

NATHAN van Berlo has been waiting six years for tomorrow to arrive.

Van Berlo, Ricciuto

NATHAN van Berlo has been waiting six years for tomorrow to arrive.

As a fresh-faced 20-year-old playing in his first preliminary final for Adelaide, van Berlo admits he was "guilty" of thinking the big games would continue to flow.

Now the Crows captain's shot at redemption - against Hawthorn at the MCG tomorrow evening - is finally here.

And it's fair to say the pain of losing the 2006 preliminary to West Coast at AAMI Stadium will be driving van Berlo against the Hawks.

"It certainly does," said van Berlo, when asked if losing to the Eagles still hurt.

"I'll forever remember that day as a lost opportunity for us.

"I guess that's where you would like to think, if you get another opportunity, you will do a better job as a team and make sure that we don't let it slip.

"We've got to put ourselves in a position this weekend to rectify that, which is going to mean good teamwork, strong efforts and everyone playing their roles."

Like most of the Crows who succumbed to the eventual premier in 2006, van Berlo chooses to block out most of the afternoon his side coughed up a 22-point half-time lead.

"I just remember being bitterly disappointed," said van Berlo, who was only in his second season at West Lakes.

"But after that, I haven't ever watched the game or anything like that, so I don't have too many memories of that game."

While he can't pin-point certain pieces of play, van Berlo can't shake the feeling he could have done more when shadowing West Coast superstar Ben Cousins.

The inexperienced Crow did an admirable job keeping Cousins quiet during the first half. But then the Brownlow Medallist turned the game on its head with an outstanding midfield display after the main change.

Despite lacking a significant amount of experience in his one-on-one duel, van Berlo still questions whether he could have done more to stop Cousins.

"I did play on Cousins that day and saw it as a really big role," van Berlo said.

"It's funny, I don't remember a great deal from the day but I certainly see it as a job where I felt like if I had have done things differently or been a bit more experienced, whether that would have impacted the result.

"I've certainly had a lot more experience since then but I guess they are the questions you ask yourself when the result doesn't go your way, particularly as it was a really close result.

"Finals games are typically really close so all it takes is one breakdown in structure or one act of brilliance which can really turn a game on its head. So that's where everyone's got to be reliant on each other to play their roles."

In learning from his mistakes, van Berlo has spent the majority of this week spruiking a clear message to his younger team-mates.

"I know in my first two years we played in prelim finals and I was lucky enough to play in one of them," van Berlo said.

"I was guilty of thinking we had a really good side at the time, so I thought we were going to be up there for a while.

"You probably fall into the trap of thinking it's pretty easy to get there and you will have another chance but it doesn't always happen that way.

"You forget guys' age and their bodies don't hold out on them, so we unfortunately lost a few players.

"It's hard to hold a group together for a long period of time and you come to realise that.

"This year, we've had a really good year in terms of performance as well as injury management, so a lot of things have gone well for us. It's about making the most of the opportunity we've got."