Geelong coach Chris Scott fully expects Adelaide to bring the heat when Patrick Dangerfield returns to town on Friday night, just as he predicts the superstar will thrive in the furnace.
Dangerfield has been in breathtaking form in his first season for his hometown AFL club following a massive off-season move from the Crows.
The high-profile match at Adelaide Oval pits the second-placed Cats against an eighth-ranked Crows outfit still smarting from a narrow loss to the Western Bulldogs when they were on the wrong end of a lopsided free-kick count.
"I forecast a week ago that this might be the toughest game in the competition at the moment and we're looking forward to the challenge," Scott said on Wednesday.
"They're clearly hard to beat anywhere but they're really hard to beat over there.
"I think it will be challenging for everyone associated with it because of the build-up - and there's obviously Patrick's return.
"But there's also a bit of heat on the umpires this week, the crowd will be involved."
While Dangerfield will clearly be the centre of attention, Scott said it would be all but impossible for the Crows to focus on him more than other opposition teams did, such was the impact he was having every week.
"He really respects the challenge - but he's up for it and we don't really have any interest in shying away from it," said Scott.
"It also helps that, when you strip it all away, there's not much animosity there.
"Our club has got a great deal of respect for Adelaide, particularly with what they went through last year (with the death of coach Phil Walsh) and they're very well-performed this year.
"We're hopeful they would have a similar view of us.
"Specifically with Patrick, I think it's safe to assume their players have a healthy level of respect for him and understand the situation he was in.
"If we remove our feeling from it, I think the general consensus is that in terms of a player leaving their club, no-one has handled it as well as Patrick has."
Scott said he understood why Adelaide queried the 28-12 free-kick count in favour of the Bulldogs in last weekend's clash at Etihad Stadium.
"I think the numbers were really stark and it poses the question in the media and amongst their supporters and the media long before Adelaide put it on the table," said Scott.
"If you are asked a direct question `is a lop-sided free kick count strange?' I think the logical answer would be to say `yes - and we need to get clarification on that'."
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