Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson says Saturday’s clash with Sydney has extra spice because the Swans stole Kurt Tippett.
Tippett will serve the last of his 11-match ban when his new club meets his old, having walked out of the Crows to join Sydney.
Bitterness remains in Adelaide, with Sanderson saying the AAMI Stadium match carries extra feeling because of Tippett.
“There probably is,” Sanderson told reporters on Wednesday.
“You come up against some teams and there has been a rivalry develop over time.
“This is probably the freshest rivalry for us, and not just because of the Kurt Tippett situation, but because they beat us in a final here last year.”
But Sanderson said any extra motivation carried by Crows players would soon dissipate.
“That doesn’t last long for a player,” he said.
“If you’re trying to build up motivation for a game, that might last a minute or two in the first quarter, then you settle down into a game of footy.
“We won’t build this game up as anything else than a must-win game for our footy club, regardless of what happened at the end of last season.”
Tippett’s illegal 2009 deal resulted in the player, Adelaide’s chief executive Steven Trigg and football manager Phil Harper being banned by the AFL.
All were found to have breached draft and salary cap rules, with the Crows also fined $300,000 and handed draft penalties.
Harper has returned from his two-month ban while Trigg’s six-month suspension ends this month.
“As a footy club, as a coach and as a footy team, we’re certainly looking forward. We don’t want to look back too much,” Sanderson said, admitting he was thankful Tippett’s suspension saved him the headache of trying to stop the powerful forward.
“I’m happy that he’s not playing because he’s such a good player. He can ruck – he’s a danger forward,” he said.
“I would still like him playing in our team but he’s obviously not. That ship has sailed.”