The Crows have opened their doors to six exercise and sports science students from the University of South Australia for season 2012.

The Club has enjoyed a strong relationship with the University through professor of Exercise Science Kevin Norton for a number of years, but only recently formalised the partnership with cadetships.   

Physical performance manager Stephen Schwerdt said several current and former members of Adelaide’s sports science team had completed a similar pathway.

“(Specialist coach) Mark Upton, (senior performance analyst) Steve Edgecomb and (performance analyst) Brock Wiseman were all appointed after spending time with me at the Club as part of their university studies,” Schwerdt said.

“We decided that we should formalise our agreement with the university a bit more.

“Part of that was to get a PhD student onboard, which we’ve done and a follow on from that was formalising our ‘cadetships’ so to speak.

“It benefits us because we get to use their expertise and skills and it benefits the student because they get exposure in the environment and it looks good on their resume for future employers.”

The students, Angela, Brad, Matt, Sean, Matthew and Wade will spend anywhere from a few hours to a few days a week at West Lakes over the next 12 months.

They will work with different areas of the Crows sports science and physical performance team, including strength, rehabilitation, GPS and fitness.