ADELAIDE has made the most of its latest Geelong connection in James Podsiadly, picking the former Cat's brain ahead of its round one clash with the powerhouse on Thursday night.
Podsiadly crossed from Geelong late last year after booting 169 goals in 83 games for the Cats, where he was a member of the club's 2011 premiership side. With coach Brenton Sanderson and assistant coach Darren Milburn also having roots at Simonds Stadium, the Crows are well versed in how Geelong plays its football.
Sanderson said his side's inside knowledge had it ready for what he dubbed "the toughest road trip in the AFL".
"We've certainly leaned on 'Podsy' a fair bit in the last couple of weeks just to make sure there's nothing we haven't missed," Sanderson said.
"He's been great. There's probably a little bit of pressure on him too, playing against his former club in round one.
"We feel like we do know Geelong pretty well. I haven't been there for a few years and neither has Darren Milburn, but we sort of feel like we know how Geelong play, we know a lot about their players, we know a lot about the ground.
"We'll certainly go over there well prepared."
Despite acknowledging the pressure on Podsiadly to perform in front of his former home fans, Sanderson said he wasn't looking for any heroics.
Given the strength of Geelong's seasoned defence, the coach said he just wanted Podsiadly involved in every forward-line contest.
"He's just got to compete. The fairytale story would be that he would go over there and kick a bag of goals for us and then we'd win, but ultimately he's there to provide a contest for us," Sanderson said.
"This is an extremely good Geelong defence with Harry Taylor, (Tom) Lonergan, (Corey) Enright, (Andrew) Mackie – those guys have been playing footy together for seven or eight years.
"It'll be an emotional game for James, I'm sure. He won a premiership there and he played there for four or five seasons.
"Internally we're just hoping that he competes at every contest. If he can jag a couple of goals to go along with that, then that'd be fantastic."
Thursday night's game will be Adelaide's first since the death of assistant coach Dean Bailey last Tuesday.
Every available member of the Adelaide Football Club – players, staff and administration – attended a memorial service for Bailey at Adelaide Oval last Saturday
Sanderson said the service offered the group "closure", adding that he wouldn't use the tragic passing of the much-loved figure as inspiration in the lead up to the club's first game of the season.
"I think for most of us that was a bit of closure, it was our chance to say 'goodbye'. Probably since that Saturday afternoon, our focus has purely been on … round one," Sanderson said.
"The boys seem in a really good headspace before we head over today.
"We won't mention it at all in the pre-game. I can't see myself [using] those sorts of clichés, 'do it for 'Bails'. Whether it's round one or round 20 or in the finals, we'll just leave it up to the players to use their own inspiration."
