NATHAN van Berlo's return to the AFL last Sunday reminded him of what it was like to make his debut a decade ago under Neil Craig.

The former skipper missed the entire 2014 season with a ruptured Achilles, making last Sunday's 77-point win over North Melbourne his first game at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.

The injury has added extra work to van Berlo's training load – as any significant injury would – although he said he was only required to work specifically on his Achilles every second day.

Van Berlo managed 17 possessions and four tackles against the Kangaroos and, importantly, said he had recovered without any soreness.

"I was pretty nervous before the game to be honest, it had been a long time since my last game of footy and I hadn't played at Adelaide Oval, so that was really exciting," van Berlo said.

"It certainly felt like it was my first game again, similar sort of nerves, but I was pretty lucky to be able to have the three warm-up games and three pre-season games before round one.

"I pulled up well from the game … I'll keep touching base with the physios and medicos and we'll keep looking after [the Achilles].

"[Maintenance will] be ongoing for me, I think, probably for the remainder of my career at least, it's just a series of calf raises and a few strengthening exercises every second day."

The Crows take on Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, a side they beat twice last year.

A 21-point win at Adelaide Oval in round nine was followed by a 16-point victory in round 18 at the MCG.

Adelaide's form last week was spectacular, but van Berlo urged his teammates to remain grounded, reminding them that their best football had always been impressive.

In recent seasons it's been their ability to reach such heights consistently that has let them down.

"For a long period of time we've spoke about our best footy being good enough and  [last] weekend it was at a level where if we bring that every week we certainly know we'll be very competitive against any side in the comp," he said.

"We've spoken about consistency in everything that we're doing, whether it be training, whether it's weights and obviously preforming on the weekend.

"Their pressure around the contest, obviously with their presence up forward with Travis Cloke, their midfield depth – we've certainly got our work cut out.

"But we're confident that if we can all play our roles that we'll be able to put forward a performance we can be proud of."

Small defender Luke Brown trained separately on Thursday as he aims to overcome a corked thigh, although he was able to join the main group's warm-up sprints.

Scott Thompson, who played three quarters of last weekend's SANFL trial as he recovers from a hamstring injury, trained with the main squad.