The 30-year-old, who celebrates his 250th game when the Cats take on Adelaide at Simonds Stadium on Thursday night, will be a regular member of the club's forward line this year.
"I know it's going to be hard and a new challenge, but I'm excited by it," Bartel said on Tuesday.
"We've got to help out big Hawk [Tom Hawkins] as much as we can. We can't rely on him to kick us a winning score the whole time."
Bartel won the 2011 Norm Smith Medal while playing across half-forward, booting three goals in Geelong's Grand Final win over Collingwood.
His new role will be very similar to that, and he's hoping for similar results.
"Probably with a few of our half-forward types being injured early in the year, I've got to step up and do as much as I can there," he said.
Bartel has also changed two of his key off-field roles in recent weeks.
He has stepped up to become a board member of the AFL Players' Association, but has relinquished his place in the Cats' leadership group, handing over the vice-captaincy to Harry Taylor in the process.
"I'd been part of the leadership group for seven years," he said.
"We're in a fortunate position where we've got some great leaders at the club, but also some emerging young ones.
"You've got to give them some responsibility and a chance to step up, and we're in great hands with them.
"I think I've said it before, I'll still have my opinion where I feel it's needed and if it's ever asked for.
"I feel pretty comfortable with my decision."
Much has been made of Geelong's pre-season injury crisis, with emerging stars Steven Motlop and Allen Christensen among the players who are not available to take on the Crows.
On the positive side, club captain Joel Selwood has recovered from his hamstring twinge and is a certain starter after training strongly on Tuesday morning.
"He's flying around out there," Bartel said. "He's nice and grumpy out on the training track, as you want your captain, but he's going really well. He's fully fit."
A key issue ahead of the naming of the teams on Wednesday is how many big men the Cats will include in their line-up.
Dawson Simpson and Mark Blicavs are considered certain starters, but Hamish McIntosh is also very much in the running.
"I'd be good to play with the big guy," Bartel said. "I felt pretty bad for him, but he's worked hard over the last 18 months to get his body right.
"(Being injured) can be incredibly frustrating, and you could nearly forgive blokes for almost wanting to give up. But he kept soldiering on.
"Hopefully he gives us a bit of punch in the ruck and maybe sneaks forward and kicks a couple."
Adelaide is battling an injury crisis of its own, but Bartel is expecting Thursday night's game to be a fierce battle.
He knows the Crows won't be short on knowledge of the Cats, given their coach Brenton Sanderson, assistant coach Darren Milburn and recruit James Podsiadly all spent many years at Simonds Stadium.
"They knocked us off last time over there," Bartel said. "They really came back at us hard.
"They're pretty similar to us in a way. They've got a lot of depth on their list and they're going to be tough to beat.
"I know Sando will have them fired up. I know he enjoys trying to beat us."
Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol
