Crows take lesson in loyalty from Kurt Tippett betrayal Adelaide captain Nathan van Berlo, centre with cap, prepares for Friday's Essendon match yesterday as feelings over the Kurt Tippett affair linger for the Crows. A NEW season begins on Friday but Kurt Tippett's betrayal of Adelaide still sparks resentment in the City of Churches. Crows captain Nathan van Berlo, who has recommitted to the club for another three years, said yesterday that his desire to sign a new contract before the start of the season was partly because of the distraction the Tippett saga created last year. The Queenslander delayed contract talks for most of last year before shocking the Crows by opting for Sydney instead of a Queensland club despite expressing homesickness as a factor. When it was revealed that the Crows and Tippett had breached draft and salary cap laws on a previous contract, the fallout was drastic, with the now Swan banned for the first half of the season and Adelaide's chief executive Steven Trigg and football manager Phil Harper also sidelined, along with another former club employee John Reid. Van Berlo yesterday said Tippett had let his former teammates down. "I guess that was a clear example to the playing group of feelings that occur when you don't want to be a part of the playing group," van Berlo said. In the Kurt Tippett case, it wasn't handled well from his point of view and the players certainly reacted accordingly to that and felt like they were let down. They've seen ways they shouldn't do it, if they choose to leave our system, but I don't think we'll have that case to deal with any time soon. His words, in a sense, were measured compared to the reactions of others. Harper, who resumed his role heading football operations earlier this month, slammed Tippett in a radio interview last year while Josh Jenkins, who shapes as a likely replacement as a key forward, was also critical in a newspaper column. Whether Tippett was genuinely interested in returning home, or simply getting away from Adelaide, is questionable but there can be no doubting van Berlo's loyalty. Despite feeling the pull of home, the West Australian said he would not leave Adelaide until his playing days were finished. "I do certainly miss home and I know when my football career is finished I will move back to Perth -- people sometimes forget that to do your dream job, you might have to relocate," he told his club's website. The Crow joins talented youngster Daniel Talia and former Carlton ruckman Sam Jacobs, who has blossomed since returning to South Australia, as key signings as the club seeks to bed down a core group for coming seasons. He touched on the scandalous off-season both Adelaide and Essendon have experienced when discussing Friday night's season-opening match at AAMI Stadium. But van Berlo said it would be unwise to bank on an emotion-charged response to claim the first match for the year. "It's like with a milestone game," van Berlo said. I think the emotion lasts for the first maybe five minutes of the game.