Douglas was shadowed by taggers in a number of games towards the end of last season and expects more attention from the opposition this year.
"It’s a compliment when you get a tagger come to you," Douglas said.
"You’ve got to work a bit harder and you need blokes to help you out, so it’s a bit of a team role as well.
The Crows’ 2009 best-and-fairest winner Bernie Vince struggled to break free from tight tags in the games he played last year and Douglas said he had sought advice of Vince, Scott Thompson and Brent Reilly, who followed him for much of Friday’s internal trial, to help him prepare for being tagged.
"There are good people to learn off around the club and you’re always learning as you go," he said.
"It’s another challenge and it’s probably the next step for me this year."
At this time last year, Douglas was preparing for a make-or-break season after being dropped from the Crows’ semi-final losing side to Collingwood and was without a contract for 2011.
A spate of injuries, however, allowed the makeshift small forward to move into his preferred midfield position and deliver on the promise he’d shown as a first-round draft pick in 2005 and the midfielder is aiming to further improve in 2011.
"I want to back it up this year. I want to improve again and take my game to the next level. I want to try and become an elite player in the competition and help Thommo and Bernie [Vince] out with a few tags by getting a few myself."
Douglas played every game last season for the first time and became Adelaide’s top ball carrier, gaining more metres than any other player at the club and ranking seventh in the AFL for inside 50s.
He finished five votes clear of Scott Thompson in the Crows’ club champion award and also contributed 17 goals to finish fifth in the club’s goalkicking.
"You hear people when they say negative things about you and it’s not nice but you’re always trying to do your best…so it was good to get some recognition by winning the best and fairest last year," Douglas told afl.com.au.
Thompson, Patrick Dangerfield and crafty forward Jason Porplyzia all rotated through the midfield/forward line in last week’s internal trial and Douglas said the changes to the AFL’s interchange rule meant onballers would have to rest in attack rather than on the bench.
"Guys are going to have to spend more time on the ground, which is going to make it a bit tougher and you have to be a bit smarter in the way you go about it," he said.
"It’s always good to spend a bit of time up forward and kick a few goals. Thommo can play forward. Patty is good up there and Porps can have a run through the midfield, so we’ve got a pretty versatile group."
Douglas’ heroics last season were rewarded with a two-year contract extension.
He’s joined the South-Australian branch of ‘Draftstar’ (a draft-camp experience for high-school students headed up by former Hawthorn star Ben Dixon) and said he had no plans to return home to Victoria.
"Hopefully, I can [play out my career in Adelaide]. I’m enjoying it here and we’ve got a great bunch of guys, so hopefully we can have some success because that’s what it’s all about."
