There were no superhero charades from the Blues in Auckland as they put the serious faces on ahead of Friday night's pivotal Super 14 visit to AMI Stadium in Christchurch to tackle the Crusaders.

After the Spiderman performance from former Blues lock Ali Williams at the Crusaders media session in Christchurch on Monday, it was comparatively tame stuff a day later from the Blues who were not keen to buy into the "grudge match" hype around Williams looking to make a statement against his former team.

In fact New Zealand's rugby player of 2007, Blues flanker Daniel Braid, even went as far as to suggest they were happy to let Williams fire himself up to play the team he left under a cloud of controversy, a situation which could work in favour of the Auckland franchise.

Williams fell out with Blues coach David Nucifora after he was used sparingly following last year's All Black reconditioning programme and eventually had to be sent home ahead of the semifinal in Durban because of disciplinary reasons.

Once the Blues franchise backed Nucifora's decision and reappointed the Australian coach, Williams made his view crystal clear. The rangy lock, nicknamed Comical Ali for his often humorous approach to things, transferred to Tasman and became a Crusader for 2008.

"He's definitely just another player," said Braid when asked about Williams' presence in the opposition. "We know how he plays, he knows how we play, but in the lineout we know a lot of the tricks he does.

"The big thing with Wams (Williams) is quite often if he gets too pumped up for a game he'll try and do a lot of it himself. From our point view hopefully he's getting himself psyched up and he'll try and take us on himself."

Williams created a stir at the Crusaders media session when he turned up in his Spiderman suit, though by fronting in the guise of the comic book hero, he also neatly deflected any serious questions about the nature of the match against the team he left in controversy.

Blues coach David Nucifora said he had not been tempted to slip his underpants on the outside for their media session.

"No, we don't dress up. We'll just get on with our business," said the coach who has faced a mountain of criticism for his team's poor play in recent weeks. The Blues, after dropping consecutive matches before their bye break last weekend, have fast reached the must-win stage of their season.

Nucifora confirmed he had not spoken to Williams since he left the team, and would probably not seek him out after the game on Friday night. "I don't do it with anyone else, so I don't see a reason to do it with him."

The Blues coach also made it clear this match was bigger than just Williams against his old team-mates.

"I think the media might try and make it that, but for us it's an important game of football that we've got to win. So if we were to let ourselves be distracted by people dressing up in Spiderman suits then we'd be going down the wrong path."

Asked if the antics hadn't been a clever ploy by Williams to avoid having to answer serious questions about the match, Nucifora added: "I don't know. You guys would have to work that out, but you might be on the money."

But Nucifora was adamant his players would not be going out to bring down Williams, superhero or not. "They'll be concentrating on what they've got to do," he said.

Blues skipper Troy Flavell said he figured Williams must have "lost a bet or something" but added that he did miss having Williams around, though as much for his friendship as anything else.

Asked how he might greet his one-time second-row partner, Flavell said: "Nothing much, eh. It will just be a little rub on the head or something, though I'm sure it will be mutual."

Flavell said it would be a "little strange" going up against his old mate, but he deflected any suggestions of bad blood. "Definitely not from our part, and I think Ali is getting on with things down there as well."

The Blues today made three changes to their side to meet the Crusaders, demoting All Black midfielder Isaia Toeava to the bench and handing first starts of the season to David Smith on the wing and Taniela Moa at halfback. Anthony Tuitavake steps into the No 13 jersey vacated by Toeava.