The Adelaide Crows won’t use the death of Dean Bailey as extra motivation for their AFL season-opener against Geelong on Thursday night.

Bailey, the Crows’ strategy and innovation coach, died last week from cancer.

But Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson says he’s unlikely to use Bailey to inspire his players this season.

“We won’t mention it at all in the pre-game,” Sanderson told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.

“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.

“But I can’t see myself, 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 Crows switched their focus from Bailey to their away fixture against Geelong after Saturday’s memorial service for the former Melbourne head coach.

“It was a really nice, beautiful send off, with his memorial service,” Sanderson said.

“I think for most us that was a bit of closure. That was our chance to say goodbye.

“And probably since that Saturday afternoon our focus has purely been on getting back to focusing on round one.

“Time will tell. But the boys seem to be in a really good head space.”