Finding the six players who deserved to be honoured for their part in the Showdown rivalry
Showdown 46 will mark 20 years since the awarding of a medal to the best-afield in the Crows-Power derby. But what of the champions from the first six Showdowns? Who would win?
Michelangelo Rucci
Don't miss out on the headlines from Michelangelo Rucci. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- AFL hits replay button with more tech for Showdown
- Wines to miss up to half a dozen
- Crows take Derby gamble on Brown
- Cornes: Which Oval midfield will show up?
- Can we top last year’s incredible Showdowns?
A Showdown ritual is to continue for the 20th consecutive year on Saturday night — the best-afield in the Crows-Power derby will be honoured with a medal, the Showdown Medal.
But the Showdown story began 23 seasons ago ... and is incomplete in Australian football’s record books.
There were six derbies played before the game’s original sponsor, SA Brewing, decided it wanted to present a trophy to the winning team — and a medal to the Showdown’s best player.
Many looking at the honour roll from derby history since 1997 do ask: “Why wasn’t there a Showdown Medal from the start?”
But there is no question on the status of the Showdown Medal.
Crows premiership captain Mark Bickley, who played in the first Showdown and another 12 for a 3-10 win-loss record overall in the derby, notes being introduced as a Showdown Medallist should draw great admiration.
“When we always talk of the Showdown being a finals-like game in a finals-like atmosphere, you would like to be remembered as the player who performed when your team needed you to stand up,” Bickley said.
Former Port Adelaide midfielder Josh Francou won three Showdown Medals — from both derbies in 2001 and again in 2002 as the Power dominated the Showdown with seven consecutive wins from 2000-2003.
“My memories is of the wins as a team, not as an individual — and how much I enjoyed beating the arch enemy,” Francou said.
“The wins were the outcome of a team performance. The individual stuff is irrelevant to me ... yes, it was nice to be the Showdown Medallist; it was nicer to be holding the Showdown Trophy.”
The retrospective medals would be awarded to three Crows and three Power players — Darren Mead, Adam Kingsley and Josh Francou at Port Adelaide; Brett James, Brownlow Medallist Mark Ricciuto and Bickley at Adelaide.
SEE RUCCI’S VOTING FOR THE FIRST SIX SHOWDOWN MEDALS BELOW
The derby record books would change to recognise Ricciuto and Francou equal with the Port Adelaide midfielder-forward Robbie Gray with the most Showdown Medals — four.
Port Adelaide president David Koch and Crows chairman Rob Chapman agreed — after an open letter from The Advertiser as the Showdown cleared out of Football Park at the end of 2013 — to deliver retrospective Showdown Medals.
But their promise has fallen into the cracks along the Showdown’s move to Adelaide Oval.
Bickley, who would be awarded the Showdown Medal for his game-changing 30 possessions in the fifth derby at West Lakes, describes the retrospective theme as a “no-brainer”.
“After handing 40 Showdown Medals, another six would be a nice way to complete the Showdown story,” Bickley said.
“So who decides the Showdown Medallists in those first six derbies? It would not be too hard to put a sub-committee together would it?”
There is enough voting material already — Brownlow Medal, media awards ... and the club’s best-and-fairest trophies.
“I don’t see any reason why you would not complete the picture,” Bickley adds.
“And having Josh Francou and Mark Ricciuto stand alongside Robbie Gray as the best-ever Showdown players does look right.
“For the sake of six medals ... why would you not do it?”
Francou, now an assistant coach at Gold Coast, would be in line for his fourth Showdown honour. The Magarey Medallist and Brownlow Medal runner-up is reluctant to campaign for retrospective Showdown Medals when his name would be on the voting slips.
“But I do see how it would stop people asking what happened to the Showdown Medals in the first three years of the derby,” Francou said.
There is precedent.
In Perth last season — as WA football was redefined with the move from Subiaco Oval to the new Perth Stadium — the city’s AFL rivals, West Coast and Fremantle, became locked in a shameful controversy as the Dockers rebelled against having the best-afield in a Fremantle-hosted Western Derby awarded the Ross Glendinning Medal.
By the time a compromise was reached to have the best-afield medal renamed after the inaugural captains at both WA-based AFL clubs — Glendinning (West Coast) and Ben Allan (Fremantle) — there also was the decision to award retrospective medals for the first 12 Western Derbies (1995-2000).
South Australian export, Fremantle forward Clive Waterhouse, claimed the last of the 12 retrospective medals for his seven goals against the Eagles (five in the second half) while his fellow South Australians — Tony Modra (broken hand) and Matthew Pavlich — finished the game on the bench.
Retrospective Showdown Medals for the first three seasons of the derby would leave one other debate to revisit. When the Crows and Power played in their only Showdown final in September 2005 — that “dream” semi-final as Port Adelaide champion Chad Cornes put it — the clubs opted to keep the trophy and medal off the agenda.
Adelaide ended the Power’s AFL premiership defence with an 83-point thrashing at Football Park where Ricciuto had the ball most often (24 times) — and was named best-afield in The Sunday Mail.
A record fifth Showdown Medal for Ricciuto?
THE VOTING MATERIAL
Sports Editor at Large Michelangelo Rucci MICHELANGELO RUCCI reviews the first six Showdowns to declare the contenders for retrospective Showdown Medals as the best-afield in the derbies.
SHOWDOWN I
April 20, 1997 at Football Park
Port Adelaide 11.17 (83) d Adelaide 11.6 (72)
FIRST derby, first surprise — the start-up Port Adelaide, with just 17 fit players in the last term, beat the more-established and more-fancied Crows to give the Showdown its reputation for delivering the unexpected.
The three field umpires and the Port Adelaide coaching panel called Power key defender and inaugural AFL club champion Darren Mead as best-afield. The Advertiser made the case for West Coast recruit Shane Bond and the acting captain who collected the first Showdown Trophy, Brayden Lyle.
Crows key forward Tony Modra kicked seven — four in the last term — to be rated Adelaide’s best in the club champion count.
DISPOSALS — Port Adelaide: B. Lyle 27, S. Bond 26; Adelaide: M. Ricciuto 30, S. Trengenza 28.
SCORES — Port Adelaide: S. Cummings 4.2; Adelaide: T. Modra 7.2.
BROWNLOW — 3: D. Mead; 2: S. Breuer; 1: B. Lade.
MERV AGARS — 3: S. Bond; 2: B. Lyle; 1: D. Mead.
POWER — D. Mead; S. Bond; S. Breuer, D. Brown, B. Lyle.
CROWS — T. Modra; S. Tregenza; K. Johnson.
MEDALLIST: Darren Mead (Port Adelaide).
SHOWDOWN II
August 10, 1997 at Football Park
Adelaide 9.11 (65) d Port Adelaide 9.4 (58)
JUST when it seemed Port Adelaide might upset the Crows twice in the first season of Showdowns — by getting a five-goal jump at quarter-time — Adelaide primed itself for its breakthrough AFL premiership with an extraordinary last quarter, overcoming a 23-point deficit in the rain while holding the Power scoreless.
Remarkably, the umpires rated two Port Adelaide players — Brownlow Medallist Gavin Wanganeen and ruckman-forward Brendon Lade — as better than any player on the winning team. The media and Crows coaches applauded midfielder Brett James, who proved the most-skilled players do indeed stand out in the wet.
DISPOSALS — Adelaide: M. Bickley, B. James 25; Port Adelaide: G. Wanganeen 27, A. Heuskes 24.
SCORES — Adelaide: D. Jarman, P. Vardy 2.1; Port Adelaide; S. Cummings 3.0.
BROWNLOW — 3: G. Wanganeen; 2: B. Lade; 1: M. Connell.
MERV AGARS — 3: B. James; 2: S. Daniels; 1: D. Jarman.
CROWS — B. James; D. Jarman; K. Koster.
POWER — D. Mead; S. Paxman; S. Daniels, J. Francou, A. Heuskes, G. Wanganeen, M. Wilson.
MEDALLIST: Brett James (Adelaide).
SHOWDOWN III
April 19, 1998 at Football Park
Port Adelaide 11.7 (73) d Adelaide 8.16 (64)
PORT Adelaide had lost four consecutive games at Football Park — and not heard its club song echo across the concrete at West Lakes for nine months. The Crows, with a 1-2 count, were finding the title of “defending AFL premiers” tough to carry.
As the rain fell from start to finish, the Power endured as the derby delivered the drama and tough football that stands as its trademark. And in demanding conditions, 22-year-old Port Adelaide midfielder Adam Kingsley stood up — particularly with his seven touches in the decisive third term.
Remarkably, even after scoring 2.2 and winning eight clearances, the umpires did not hand Kingsley a Brownlow vote. The Power coaching staff declared Kingsley the game’s best as the Essendon recruit built a season worthy of the club champion title.
DISPOSALS — Port Adelaide: A. Kingsley 26; B. Lyle 25, D, Dickie, G. Wanganeen 24; Adelaide: M. Ricciuto 22, M. Bickley 21.
SCORES — Port Adelaide: A. Kingsley 2.2; Adelaide: D. Jarman 2.2.
BROWNLOW — 3: N. Bassett 3; 2: J. Francou; 1: M. Primus.
MERV AGARS — 3: A. Kingsley; 2: F. Francis; 1: N. Smart.
POWER — A. Kingsley, M. Primus, F. Francis.
CROWS — N. Bassett, M. Ricciuto, A. McLeod.
MEDALLIST: Adam Kingsley (Port Adelaide).
SHOWDOWN IV
August 9, 1998 at Football Park
Adelaide 22.12 (144) d Port Adelaide 10.10 (70)
ADELAIDE’S premiership defence was very much in tune with this Showdown victory that delivered the first blow-out result after the first three derbies were decided by two goals or less.
The Crows’ four-quarter performance — that ended in a 74-point win — featured two standout performances: Midfielder Mark Ricciuto with his 34 touches, including 10 in the last term after he had set the agenda in the first half; and forward Peter Vardy, who rewrote the Showdown record books by outscoring Tony Modra’s 7.2 in the first derby.
All judges went with Ricciuto as best-afield.
DISPOSALS — Adelaide: M. Ricciuto 34, M. Connell 33; Port Adelaide: J. Francou 21, D. Brown, D. Dickie, B. Lyle 20.
SCORES — Adelaide: P. Vardy 7.5; Port Adelaide: B. Chalmers 3.0.
BROWNLOW — 3: M. Ricciuto; 2: P. Vardy; 1: D. Jarman.
MERV AGARS — 3: M. Ricciuto; 2: P. Vardy; 1: B. Hart.
CROWS — M. Ricciuto, P. Vardy, B. Hart.
POWER — D. Dickie, N. Stevens, G. Wanganeen.
MEDALLIST: Mark Ricciuto (Adelaide).
SHOWDOWN V
May 2, 1999 at Football Park
Adelaide 18.7 (115) d Port Adelaide 12.15 (87)
ADELAIDE was fourth with a 3-2 count; Port Adelaide was fifth at 3-2 as well. And amid many mistakes — particularly with the Power’s goalkicking — the Crows reaffirmed why they were able to win two consecutive AFL premierships by outlasting every challenger.
Crows premiership captain Mark Bickley started at half-back — and in a template Malcolm Blight coaching tactic — was moved to the midfield to change the game with his 30 touches, including 10 clearances and six inside-50 sorties.
Crows centre half-forward Matthew Robran kicked 5.0 to be the biggest challenger as best-afield ... although the umpires again surprised by ignoring a Showdown star performer with their Brownlow Medal votes.
DISPOSALS — Adelaide: M. Bickley 30, D. Jarman; Port Adelaide: A. Kingsley 30, J. Francou 26.
SCORES — Adelaide: M. Robran 5.0; Port Adelaide: W. Tredrea 3.3.
BROWNLOW — 3: K. Johnson; 2: M. Bickley; 1: D. Gallagher.
MERV AGARS — 3: M. Bickley; 2: M. Robran; 1: B. Hart.
CROWS — M. Robran, M. Bickley, B. Hart.
POWER — M. Wilson; S. Bond; C. Cockatoo-Collins, J. Poulton, N. Stevens, W. Tredrea.
MEDALLIST: Mark Bickley (Adelaide).
SHOWDOWN VI
August 22, 1999 at Football Park
Port Adelaide 13.14 (92) d Adelaide 9.14 (68)
PORT Adelaide put a lock on its first AFL finals appearance, novice Power coach Mark Williams celebrated his first triumph in a Showdown ... the Crows were searching the market for Malcolm Blight’s successor as coach.
The standout note of the match — that was decided at half-time — was the ruck dominance emerging in the Power’s kitbag with Brendon Lade and the strength of midfielder Josh Francou.
The umpires went with Lade in the Brownlow votes; the Power coaching staff could not separate Lade, Francou and captain Gavin Wanganeen and The Advertiser declared Francou was “best-afield by the length of Port Road” and scored him at 9/10.
DISPOSALS — Port Adelaide: J. Francou 31, B. Lyle 27; Adelaide: M. Connell 33, M. Ricciuto 23.
SCORES — Port Adelaide: C. Cockatoo-Collins 4.0; Adelaide: D. Jarman 3.1.
BROWNLOW — 3: B. Lade; 2: J. Francou 2; 1: G. Wanganeen.
MERV AGARS: 3: J. Francou; 2: G. Wanganeen; 1: B. Lade.
POWER — J. Francou, B. Lade, G. Wanganeen on equal votes.
CROWS — N. Bassett, M. Connell, S. Goodwin.
MEDALLIST: Josh Francou (Port Adelaide).
SHOWDOWN MEDALLISTS
FOR the 20th consecutive AFL season, the best-afield in a Crows-Power derby — as judged by a panel of former players and current media representatives — is awarded the Showdown Medal.
The ritual began with the seventh Showdown in 2000, leaving the first six derbies without an official best-on-ground award except for the Brownlow Medal votes.
Only one Showdown Medal has been dedicated to a football great with the trophy in Showdown 39 in 2015 named in honour of the late Phil Walsh. The medal was won by Crows midfielder Scott Thompson.
There was no Showdown Medal awarded in the only derby final, the 2005 semi-final won by Adelaide.
AWARDED
2000 Mark Ricciuto (Crows)
2000 Nick Stevens (Power)
2001 Josh Francou (Power)
2001 Josh Francou (Power)
2002 Jarrad Schofield (Power)
2002 Josh Francou (Power)
2003 Graham Johncock (Crows)
2003 Peter Burgoyne (Power)
2004 Mark Ricciuto (Crows)
2004 Warren Tredrea (Power)
2005 Mark Ricciuto (Crows)
2005 Simon Goodwin (Crows)
Shaun Burgoyne (Power)
2006 Tyson Edwards (Crows)
2006 Chad Cornes (Power)
2007 Andrew McLeod (Crows)
2007 Simon Goodwin (Crows)
2008 Bernie Vince (Crows)
2008 Danyle Pearce (Power)
2009 Dean Brogan (Power)
2009 Nathan Bock (Crows)
2010 Robbie Gray (Power)
2010 Domenic Cassisi (Power)
2011 Justin Westhoff (Power)
2011 Nathan van Berlo (Crows)
2012 Patrick Dangerfield (Crows)
2012 Sam Jacobs (Crows)
2013 Travis Boak (Power)
2013 Chad Wingard (Power)
2014 Hamish Hartlett (Power)
2014 Sam Jacobs (Crows)
2015 Robbie Gray (Power)
2015 Scott Thompson (Crows)
2016 Tom Lynch (Crows)
2016 Matt Crouch (Crows)
2017 Rory Sloane (Crows)
2017 Sam Jacobs (Crows)
2018 Robbie Gray (Power)
2018 Robbie Gray (Power)
RETROSPECTIVE
1997 Darren Mead (Power)
1997 Brett James (Crows)
1998 Adam Kingsley (Power)
1998 Mark Ricciuto (Crows)
1999 Mark Bickley (Crows)
1999 Josh Francou (Power)
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au
Rucci: Time for clubs to put old rivalries aside
Australian football faces dramatic changes to overcome the damage presented by the COVID19 crisis. It can only survive with unprecedented unity.
There should be no asterisk against 2020 premiership
The team that wins this year’s AFL premiership should be lauded for adapting in the most trying of circumstances. There must be no doubts over the legitimacy of the season, writes Michelangelo Rucci.