Adelaide skipper Nathan van Berlo is set to remain a Crow for life after signing a new three-year deal with the AFL club.

The 26-year-old has committed to the Crows until the end of 2016, when he will be 30.

In this third year as captain, van Berlo would have entered free agency at season’s end but decided to commit early to Adelaide.

“It was a no-brainer for me to make the decision to stay,” van Berlo told the Crows website.

“With the direction the club is heading in at the moment, I certainly want to be a part of it and I’m really excited to be here for another three years.

“To be able to spend my whole career here means the world to me.”

Star ruckman Sam Jacobs and defender Daniel Talia have also signed three-year deals before the start of the season.

With Scott Thompson, Brent Reilly, Graham Johncock, Jason Porplyzia and Ben Rutten all to become free agents at the end of the season, van Berlo hoped his early commitment to the club would result in others following his lead.

“Having three guys re-sign already shows the group is committed to where we want to go,” he said.

“Part of that success is making sure we get the rest of the group to stick around.

“We’ll have words with (out-of-contract) players if we need to, but I honestly don’t think we’ll need to say too much.

“I expect we’ll have the majority of this group here for the future.”

Over the past three seasons, the Crows have lost key defenders Nathan Bock and Phil Davis, to the two expansion clubs, and ruck-forward Kurt Tippett.

Adelaide open the season against Essendon on Friday night.