ADELAIDE may have lost its past eight encounters against Geelong on the Cats’ home turf, but Crows coach Don Pyke doesn’t believe in hoodoos.
Since the Crows’ inception in 1991, they’ve won just three of 18 games in Geelong.
The club’s most recent attempt at knocking the Cats off at home (round 23 last year) resulted in a 39-point loss.
Still, Pyke insisted he thought little of the idea of a ‘hoodoo’ and that the truth was much simpler: Geelong have performed brilliantly at home for many seasons.
The coach said an element of preparation for Saturday night’s contest would be about handling Simonds Stadium itself, but the bulk of Adelaide’s attention would be focused on reaching its potential against the Cats.
"The hoodoo is a bit of a myth, to be honest," Pyke said on Wednesday.
"They’re a strong team, they play really well at home and they have done for a number of years.
"There’s minor adjustments you make based on opposition and ground, but the majority of the time we’ll be focused on how we play."
The Crows are likely to be boosted by the return of important defensive duo Rory Laird and Luke Brown.
Laird has evolved into one of the club’s key playmakers over the past two seasons and, after missing last week’s win over Collingwood with a sore hip, appears ready to reclaim his place in the side.
Brown has missed the past two games with a groin injury.
Pyke said the pair trained on Wednesday and, providing they pulled up well on Thursday morning, would be available for selection.
Eddie Betts has also been declared fit despite requiring a guard on his hand at training this week.
The small forward will need to be at his best for the Crows to not only end their losing streak in Geelong, but also atone for the 26-point loss to the Cats in round 13 at Adelaide Oval.
Cam Guthrie (36 disposals) ran rampant in Patrick Dangerfield’s first outing against his old side, while Steven Motlop booted four majors.
Adelaide hasn’t lost a game since, and while Pyke believed his side had improved significantly in the eight-game winning streak, he said the true test would come on Saturday night.
"I think we’ve improved in a number of areas and that’s been documented through our performances in recent times, but we’re going to see how far we've come on Saturday night," he said.
A win for the Crows would take their streak to nine games, just one behind the club record of 10, achieved in 2005. Their following two opponents are cellar-dwellers Essendon and the Brisbane Lions.
