Youngster "humbled" by award

[bus24]

Nathan van Berlo was “humbled” to have been amongst the awards at the Crows Club Champion night.

The Western Australian born youngster was announced the winner of the M.A Bickley Award on Friday night, which recognises the achievements of a first or second year player on and off the field. Van Berlo appreciates the significance of winning such an award.

“It’s a great honour to win any sort of award on Club Champion night,” van Berlo said. “And to win the M.A Bickley award…it’s obviously (regarded) highly if it’s named in Mark’s honour. I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with Mark a couple of times and he is a really nice guy and I can see what he has done for the club and what he continues to do. With all that he achieved throughout his career – it’s really humbling to win such an award.”

The East Perth recruit began his AFL career in 2005 playing 11 senior games, and continued his rapid development in 2006 playing a further 19 games. The only interruption to van Berlo’s impressive season was a broken collarbone sustained in Round 11, which saw him miss six weeks of football.

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“My aim for 2006 was to improve on last year,” he said. “I was pleased with my progress, and I’m really looking forward to next season to take it to the next level again.”

Although just 20 years of age, van Berlo was given a number of negating jobs on some of the AFL’s best midfielders. Having played on West Coast’s Ben Cousins a number of times during the season, van Berlo regards their battle in the Preliminary Final as the biggest learning experience of his career.

“It was a big test for me,” he said. “I’d been given the role from the coaching staff and I was really excited about the opportunity. I thought I did a reasonable job in the first half, but I just found that in the second half his work rate cut me out (of the game) a bit more and he was able to run over me.

“I’ve certainly learnt from his work rate and the way he gets into the game, but also the way he goes about getting the footy. Even though he seemed out of the game for his standards for a while, the way he managed to get himself back into the game; they are certainly traits that I would like to have in my game in the future.”

The dust has barely settled from the 2006 season, yet van Berlo has already focused his attention onto the coming year.

“I’ve already had meetings with Alan Stewart (Adelaide’s Development Manager), and in the pre-season the goal is to put some more weight on and to get fitter,” he said. “I don’t want to be in the situation again where I’m out run by an opponent. (I am) also looking to improve my performances individually as well. It’s going to be an exciting year, and I’m looking forward to it already.”


http://afc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=302607


OH The Great Man ​

 

[RoosterLad]

Brownlow next year

 

[earlsta]

“I’ve already had meetings with Alan Stewart (Adelaide’s Development Manager), and in the pre-season the goal is to put some more weight on and to get fitter,” he said. “I don’t want to be in the situation again where I’m out run by an opponent. (I am) also looking to improve my performances individually as well. It’s going to be an exciting year, and I’m looking forward to it already.”​

http://afc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=302607​

OH The Great Man ​

That's what impresses me the most out of that short interview, the fact he doesn't want to be in the situation where he's out run by an opponent (Ben Cousins). Who is probably the hardest running midfielder in the AFL.

BTW, VB shouldn't be humbled to receive the award, Mark Bickley should be absolutely humbled and honoured to present the award to Nathan Van Berlo.