PATRICK Dangerfield won't be a special focus for his old club Adelaide on Friday night, with coach Don Pyke insisting the Geelong star was simply another player the Crows had to shut down.

And Pyke said it was up to the fans how they 'welcomed' their former idol.

"It's not for me to suggest how they (fans) treat him on the night," Pyke said.

"We are going to focus on playing Geelong, not necessarily playing him."

The Crows boss played a straight-bat to the return of Dangerfield, Adelaide's reigning club champion who has settled in superbly at Geelong.

"What will it be like? Well, he's a player that has obviously been at this club," Pyke said.

"But he's a player that is now playing at Geelong ... we will treat him as another player and an opponent we want to beat."

The superstar is ranked first in the AFL for inside 50s this year and is averaging a career-high 29 possessions a game.

But with the Cats boasting a host of other players capable of tearing the Crows apart, Pyke was cautious not to over-hype Dangerfield's first encounter against his former side.

"We're mindful they've got some quality in there but we've played sides who've have quality midfields throughout the year … the (Western) Bulldogs at the weekend, Hawthorn before that, Sydney – we've experienced that so we'll be backing our guys in," he said.

Pyke said that after losing too much possession at the source against the Bulldogs, his side would enter Friday night's blockbuster with a clear focus on the contest.

Matt Crouch, Scott Thompson and Rory Sloane will be relied upon to not only restrict Dangerfield and Joel Selwood's output, but to hunt the ball on the inside.

Pyke sought an explanation from the League's umpires this week after a lopsided 28-12 count in his side's 15-point loss to the Western Bulldogs last weekend.

His main issues revolved around the consistency of interpretation from the men in green.

"I had a chat with the umpires' advisor today, got some clarity around some of the issues that we had and we move on," he said.

"We just need to know so we can coach the players accordingly. We give them the feedback so they understand exactly how the game's being interpreted and umpired.

"It's fair to say upon reflection there was a number of free kicks that were our doing and we've got to improve in those areas… [the umpiring] certainly wasn't the reason we lost the game of footy."