Patrick Dangerfield expects to play a greater variety of roles, including as a forward, this season in line with coach Phil Walsh’s demands for a versatile team.

Dangerfield is no stranger to lining up in the forward half, where he started his AFL career and has rested at times throughout his 131 games. On Saturday, Dangerfield  reminded the football world how damaging he can be inside 50m.

The explosive 24-year-old had five shots at goal for a return of 1.4 as both sides struggled for accuracy.

He showed his strength in the air with an equal-game high five marks inside 50m, and threw himself in typical kamikaze fashion at several other contests. Dangerfield had three goal assists, including a pin-point pass to Sam Jacobs after brushing aside two competitors in Tom Jonas and Matthew Broadbent in the final quarter. The explosive ball winner also laid four tackles and generated five clearances from his 21 possessions.

“We’re still tinkering around with players in different roles and seeing what works and what doesn’t,” he said after the game.

“I think you’ll find that, as a team, we’ll rotate players around this year. You won’t just be set in one position even for a quarter. It’s really important that we’re able to play multiple roles. With limited interchange and the way the game's going, we need to be able to cover all bases.

“You can’t just play in the midfield the whole game. You have to be able to play half-back or half-forward, wing or forward pocket.”

The Crows ran out four-goal winners over Port Adelaide after leading by as many as 55 points early in the last quarter.

Adelaide set up the win on the back of some strong team defence particularly early in the match. Team defence has been a focus in Walsh’s first summer as coach and Dangerfield said it was pleasing to see the Crows improve in that area.

“I think there are some real positives we can take out of the NAB Challenge,” he said.

“Obviously, different teams were in different stages of their preparation leading into Round One, so it can be a bit hard to gauge. But there are certainly some little things that we’ve improved on as the pre-season has progressed. I thought our team defence was pretty good today for the majority of the game.

“That’s a real positive because if you look back at the first game that we played, it was a bit patchy. The plan is to keep improving once the season starts.”

The Crows will now prepare to play North Melbourne in Round One of the Premiership Season on Sunday, April 5. Tickets are selling fast for the Club’s season-opener at Adelaide Oval.

Dangerfield said the team was acutely aware it still had plenty to improve on in order to beat last year’s Preliminary Finalists.

“Round One is a different level. Port fielded a pretty strong side tonight as we did, but once the season kicks off it’s a different ball game and we know that,” he said.

“It’s hard to simulate the match intensity of the season proper in the pre-season competition, but the game was pretty hot today.”

Onballer Cam Ellis-Yolmen and rookie Jake Kelly are among the players vying for a Round One berth.

For the second straight week, Ellis-Yolmen topped Adelaide’s possession count. The strong-bodied midfielder amassed 26 touches, including a 2015 NAB Challenge-high 21 contested possessions. He also won six clearances and laid five tackles.

In his third appearance of the pre-season competition Kelly, who lives with Dangerfield, was also solid in his defensive role.

“It’s really competitive internally in terms of those midfield positions but Cam’s done some really nice things throughout the pre-season and the same with Jake, which has been great to see,” Dangerfield said.

“I have a close connection with Jake and I thought he played particularly well today. He was a bit more composed with the ball, which comes with just playing a few games at the level. He doesn’t have any trouble finding it and is a ruthless competitor.”