It is not the Showdown to decide the AFL premiership race, but it has a fair edge for Power and Crows fans
SHOWDOWN 45 could have more consequence with Power and Crows fans than on the park at Adelaide Oval on Saturday as the derby will do little to shape the real AFL premiership race.
- 15 minutes that cruelled Crows’ finals hopes
- Demons hold on to leave Crows on life support
- Why it’s too early to write off the Power
- Motlop goes from Showdown hero to babysitter
- AFL live coverage: Follow all the action
IT will be an interesting Monday morning at the cafes (rather than the water coolers, as they say in the States) when two football tribes take their starting positions for Showdown 45.
Port Adelaide fans: “We’re looking forward to putting the last nail in your coffin.”
Crows supporters: “And what makes you think you’re going to be there in September?”
It’s on.
Who would have thought at the start of this AFL premiership season — or even after the epic derby decided on May 12 with Power recruit Steven Motlop’s goal in the last 21 seconds — that Showdown 45 be about slagging (as the Irish would say in good humour) than bragging rights?
And it won’t be about shaping the premiership race that continues to be about who wants to lose a grand final to Richmond at the MCG this year.
This is what Showdown 45 has fallen into. It is a moment for the far-divided Power and Crows fans to work themselves through the “banter” of the intense unease among in-town (rather than crosstown) rivals.
Meanwhile, at West Lakes and Alberton there has to be more meaningful discussions about what the Crows and Port Adelaide intend to make of the last month of the home-and-away season.
Adelaide, which was third (5-2) before Showdown 44 and now 12th (9-9), could win all four games but not qualify for a fourth consecutive final series with a 13-9 record.
Port Adelaide was out of the top eight by percentage before Showdown 44 — and could win back-to-back derbies in the same season for the first time since Ken Hinkley’s first season as Power coach in 2013 and still not play finals. It could even make a clean sweep of the Crows — with the summer Showdown and both in-season derbies — for the first time, but pack its jumpers at the end of August.
The uncertainty on the Power’s place in September is why some Port Adelaide fans might want to think carefully of their barbs to their Crows counterparts this week. Although it will be hard to avoid the one about taking up the cheap bookings from all the ski lodges no longer needed by Melbourne fans (who should experience finals for the first time since 2006).
Who would have thought such a such a script would unfold this year when the Crows (fired by the need to go one better in 2018) seemed a certainty for September … or that the Power would be higher ranked than Adelaide in the lead-up to Showdown 45?
At least the fans’ banter will make up for whatever the derby has lost in its relevance to the AFL premiership race.
michelangelo.rucci@news.com.au