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BRENTON Sanderson says Adelaide has put a tough pre-season behind it and is in "a really good head space'' going into Thursday night's round one clash against Geelong.
While the club has had to deal with the shock of losing popular assistant coach Dean Bailey to cancer and a long list of injuries, Sanderson said the players had switched their focus to the daunting road trip to Simonds Stadium.
"And we'll be going over there to play well and win,'' the Crows coach said.
"We're fit, we're strong and there seems to be a really good resilience among the boys at the moment.''
Sanderson will hand Crows debuts to gun recruits James Podsiadly, recruited from Geelong, and former Blue Eddie Betts on Thursday night.
He has surprisingly overlooked prized rookie Matt Crouch, naming him as an emergency, and athletic big man Josh Jenkins, who has lost out to Shaun McKernan, in the battle to be Sam Jacobs' ruck partner. Jenkins is the travelling emergency.
Crows co-captain Rory Sloane at training on Wednesday. Picture: Daniel Kalisz.
The underdog Crows, who could not consider eight first-choice players because of injuries or interrupted pre-seasons, will field a bunch of players who haven't been AFL regulars, including McKernan, Lewis Johnston, Brodie Martin, Sam Kerridge, Sam Shaw, Matthew Jaensch and Jarryd Lyons.
"There are some good stories of guys who have worked their backsides off over the summer and forced their way into the round one side, which is great," Sanderson said.
Sanderson said the Crows would not use Bailey's passing as extra motivation to start well.
"We won't mention it at all in the pre-game,'' Sanderson said.
"Players will be driven their own personal way, whether it's with the memories of Dean or the opportunity to play well in round one.
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"But I can't see myself using those sort of cliches like '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.''
Sanderson said the players would be fully focused on their task on Thursday night after having "a bit of closure'' at Bailey's memorial service at Adelaide Oval last Saturday.
"It was a really nice, beautiful send off, and I think for most us that was a bit of closure. That was our chance to say goodbye,'' he said.
"And probably since that Saturday afternoon our focus has purely been on getting back to focusing on round one.''
Sanderson described playing at Simonds Stadium — where Geelong has won 43 of its past 44 home-and-away matches — as "the toughest road trip in the AFL''.
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"For whatever reason, they play the ground really well,'' Sanderson said.
"So it will be a tough assignment for us but we're certainly going over there to play well and win.
"We certainly respect this team, Geelong is a very good side, particularly at Simonds Stadium.
"But we won't fear them, we'll go over there with a good young side which is ready to play.''
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