Vince main target for AFL rivals

The Adelaide Crows AFL Club train at Northcliffe Surf Club on the Gold Coast. Source: The Advertiser

Lloyd - whose Bombers tried to rough up the key Adelaide playmaker in last year's elimination final - said the classy Vince had been earmarked by opposition clubs as the man they must stop.

He forecast Vince would be a marked man and paid the same physical attention as Geelong Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett and Carlton captain Chris Judd and that his Crows teammates must take a stand or risk Vince being battered into submission.

"Adelaide's got to take a leaf out of Geelong's book and protect its best player," said Lloyd, who retired at the end of last season after a club record 926 goals in 270 games.

"Vince will be hunted this season and you can't leave a young player like him to his own devices to work his way out of it, no matter how good or mentally tough he is.

"You need to be brutal on the opposition tagger and batter them as much as Bernie is being battered so if someone like (Geelong's) Cameron Ling walks up to Bernie Vince he's got to know he'll walk off very sore at the end of the day.

"Geelong does that better than anyone else in its protection of Ablett and the Crows have to give Bernie that type of support because once you have a breakout year like Bernie had last year the next year is harder.

"Clubs will be putting a lot of extra time and effort into trying to stop him."

Lloyd, now a media identity and AFL-AIS Academy coach, said Vince last year crept under the guard of opposition clubs who focused on stopping veteran stars Andrew McLeod, Simon Goodwin and Tyson Edwards as well as midfield ball magnet Scott Thompson.

He responded with a breakout season, winning the club champion award and leading the team in disposals with 559 and marks (142).

While his champion team-mates are at the end of their careers, Vince, at just 24, is the new star.

"It's taken a while for people in Melbourne to understand how good Bernie is but they've got a full appreciation of it now," Lloyd told The Advertiser.

"There's no doubt if you want to stop someone in Adelaide's midfield now it's Bernie because like Sam Mitchell at Hawthorn and Jobe Watson at Essendon he's got the rare ability to get his hands on the ball, read taps very well, run hard and break the lines. He also uses the ball well, which makes him the Crows' No. 1 playmaker.

"But, speaking from experience, he now has to prepare to put up with some punishment week-in, week-out and it will be interesting to see how he copes and what the Crows do about it. It will have a significant bearing on the team's fortunes this year."

Lloyd said it was important Adelaide's other young players continued to develop to take pressure off Vince long term.

"Ultimately Bernie needs players like Patrick Dangerfield and David Mackay to stand up so all the pressure isn't being heaped on him," Lloyd said.

"The Crows will want as many guys as possible standing up so that teams have to decide who to tag, which is going to be strength of Hawthorn this year having added (Port Adelaide's) Shaun Burgoyne to an already star-studded group."