Promising Crow Cam Ellis-Yolmen believes his biggest pre-season to-date is starting to pay off.

Ellis-Yolmen, 22, was one of Adelaide’s best players in the 19-point NAB Challenge loss to Geelong at Simonds Stadium on Thursday night.

The 189cm, 89kg, onballer was the team’s joint-leading possession getter against the Cats, gathering 23 disposals and winning six clearances. In an encouraging sign, fellow young Crow Brad Crouch equalled Ellis-Yolmen’s effort, also amassing 23 touches and six clearances to go with seven tackles.

While several of Adelaide’s young players were squeezed out of the side to play Geelong, Ellis-Yolmen’s performance against North Melbourne in Port Lincoln earned him another opportunity.

The strong-bodied midfielder said competition for spots meant every game was crucial for players looking to break into the side for Round One.

“It was really important to take my opportunity and play my role for the team again tonight,” Ellis-Yolmen said after the game.

“It’s pretty competitive for spots in the midfield and, particularly, for inside midfielders. I thought Jarryd Lyons was good tonight and Brad Crouch again too. You can’t let your guard down or have a bad game or you’re going to be out straight away.

“I just want to play as many NAB Challenge games as I can and keep doing my bit for the team. Hopefully, I’ve done enough to get a game against Port Adelaide, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Recruited with pick No.64 in the 2011 National Draft, Ellis-Yolmen made his AFL debut as the starting substitute in Adelaide’s Round 12 clash with Fremantle at Patersons Stadium last season. Despite solid form in the SANFL, the clearance winner was unable to add to his games tally in 2014.

Entering his fourth year at the Club, Ellis-Yolmen knew he had to improve his fitness to strengthen his claim on a regular spot in the senior team.

“One of my main focuses for the summer was to build a bigger engine and be able to run out games better and with more speed. In last quarters, especially, I wanted to make sure I could keeping running hard,” he said.

“It’s starting to show in my footy. I think I can get to more stoppages and reset heaps better. I’m not huffing and puffing as much as I used to.

“I feel much more confident at the level now. I think the (improved) fitness over the pre-season has helped me out a lot and allowed me to run more through the midfield and with the elite players that Geelong and all the teams in the AFL have.”

Ellis-Yolmen’s biggest asset is his clean hands at stoppages. Of his 23 possessions against Geelong, 16 were handballs, including his first 11 touches of the game.

“I wanted to get my head over the footy and try to get the ball out to our players,” he said.

“We were a bit behind in our first touch on the footy, so I just tried to play my role for the team.”

While coach Phil Walsh planned to address the kick-to-handball ratio with Ellis-Yolmen, he said he was pleased with the Flinders Park product’s game.

“I liked Cam’s game last week and again he showed some things tonight,” Walsh said.

“His kick-to-handball ratio, I think he had 16 handballs and seven kicks, so I’ll have to have a word to him about that, but he was encouraging.

“We’re hoping for Cam, Jarryd Lyons, Matt Wright, Brodie Martin and all those guys to step up. I think Brad Crouch has taken a step forward.

“It takes time for young guys. Geelong started with Jimmy Bartel, Joel Selwood and Cam Guthrie, so it wasn’t a bad line up in the centre square.”

Teammate Richard Douglas says Ellis-Yolmen provided a different dynamic in the midfield.

"Cam’s a bigger body. We’ve got a lot of midfielders around the 180-186cm-mark, but Cam is about 190cm, so he can give us that real grunt around the ball and some extra size and strength that other teams have," Douglas said.

“He was impressive last night. It’s probably just his (been a change in his) professionalism. Once you get to the age of 21 or 22-years-old and been around for two or three years, the penny sort of drops.  

"I think ‘Walshy’ has probably grabbed him along the way and said, ‘Your time is now, mate’ because he’s taken his opportunities so far.

"He’s working closely with (midfield coach) Scott Camporeale and the midfield boys to try and take his game to the next level. Hopefully, he can put in another good show next week and get his chance in Round One.”

The performances of Ellis-Yolmen and Brad Crouch were two of the positives to emerge from Adelaide’s trip to Geelong.

The Crows displayed patches of good form, but let themselves down with some poor kicking and decision making especially early in the match. Ellis-Yolmen said his team needed to improve its disposal efficiency, which included kicking for goal.

“We just needed to be a bit more composed with the ball and hit the short kick instead of bombing long and playing into their hands,” he said.

“Our kicking efficiency wasn’t up to scratch and we needed to hit more targets. Kicking for goal there was probably more difficult than it looked even thought Geelong made it look easy. I know I had a shot at goal late. I put it straight and thought it was going to curve, but it didn’t at all and went straight into the goal post. I think we missed a few like that.

“Our goalkicking is an area we need to continue to work on.”