Wow! A Showdown for the ages, says Michelangelo Rucci

A RECORD crowd was treated to a ripping contest as Adelaide and Port Adelaide played out an epicShowdown packed with a feast of sensational highlights and heroics, says Michelangelo Rucci.

Tough work ... Charlie Cameron fends off Port skipper Travis Boak. Picture: Sarah Reed

SHOWDOWNS mean more to Port Adelaide players, apparently. But that doesn’t mean the hot rivalry of the now long-running derby won’t bring the best out of the Crows.

What has to be said of the 20th anniversary Showdown at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night is: Wow! Once again, wow!

For the first top-of-the-table derby in Showdown history, this one did deliver some top-shelf parcels as the Crows put the derby ledger at 21-21 with a record crowd for an AFL game in Adelaide (53,698) to see the latest epic.

There was Port Adelaide midfielder Ollie Wines’ bullish efforts from start to finish. And the equally impressive way his Crows counterpart Rory Sloane carries his team on his unbreakable shoulders.

Wow!

Showdown heroes Ollie Wines and Rory Sloane clash. Picture: Tom Huntley

And the Power players, after two tough years, certainly have their energy back.

Put the Crows tricolour in front of them — as the “red rag to a bull” — and Ken Hinkley’s men seem possessed by an energy every coach says he wished someone would bottle.

For the third consecutive week, Adelaide has let its opponents lead from the start — this time by 18 points reaching time-on of the first term on the back of Power ruckman Patrick Ryder’s phenomenal dominance with 23 hit-outs.

And for the third successive week, the Crows have adjusted to have the game on their terms by halftime.

Adelaide’s dominance of the last 20 minutes of the second term — measured by the ball being in the Crows’ half with 13 of 15 inside-50s and 3.4 to 1.0 on the scoreboard — emphasises just how strong Don Pyke’s group has become in making matches play to their terms, to their pace and in their space.

Power defender Darcy Bryne-Jones marks in front of Crow Mitch McGovern. Picture: Tom Huntley

Port Adelaide may be looking for capital along the Great Wall of China, but the Crows are building the foundation for their third AFL premiership with a powerful wall that comes across the centre square as soon as they are in the position to lock the ball in their forward half.

And it is a tough wall — or screen — to break. So is the spirit of some Port Adelaide players, particularly those who find Showdowns so much to their personal (let alone professional) pride.

This Showdown, the 42nd since the rivalry came out of courts and boardrooms through the early 1990s to hit the field at Football Park on April 20, 1997, certainly adds to the ultimate highlights reel. Who wants to start a top-10 list of favourite moments from Saturday night that will become epic in Showdown history?

Put up young Port Adelaide defender Darcy Byrne-Jones’ tackle on Crows captain Taylor Walker on the goal line at the Riverbank end midway through the second term. And Crows veteran David Mackay’s phenomenal snap in the southwest pocket three minutes later.

There is Power forward Chad Wingard’s remarkable left-foot snap on scooping up the ball in the other pocket at the southern end late in the third term to put his team’s deficit at 14 points.

How about Andy Otten’s two goals in the second term when he — along with so many other Crows — proved that chipping in every so often makes for an incredibly difficult team game to break apart.

Wow!

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