Showdown 57: All the news ahead of Port Adelaide and Adelaide’s Round 9 clash

Jordan Dawson says the Crows are ‘very wary’ ahead of Saturday night’s Showdown – despite coming off a big win and the Power being pumped by the Dogs.

Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson says the Crows are “very wary” of the response from Port Adelaide in the Showdown after the Power was smashed by the Western Bulldogs.

For the first time since Round 16 in 2019 the Crows go into a Showdown as favourites following their convincing win over Carlton, with the Power licking its wounds after being savaged by the Dogs in Ballarat.

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But Dawson said the way his side bounced back from a disappointing loss to Fremantle the week before showed that the Crows needed to be prepared for a Port response.

“The competition is so tight and if you are a few per cent off you can get shown up against anyone and we were in a similar position this time last week after the Freo game,” he said.

“So we will be very wary of Port responding and they always respond well.” Dawson himself responded in style against the Blues after a couple of quieter weeks by his high standards, finishing with 22 disposals, seven marks, eight tackles and three goals.

Connor Rozee and Jordan Dawson holding the Variety Shield ahead of this week’s Showdown. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images.

Crows coach Matthew Nicks said after the win that the criticism for his captain prior to the game was off the mark.

Dawson said he didn’t change anything to roar back into form.

“He didn’t challenge me, no more than other weeks,” he said.

“Ideally you want to go out and play the best you can and to your capability every week

The competition is so tight and individually it is such a hard game.

“You are going to have down weeks and it is about how you respond to that and as a group we were able to do that.

“Nothing different changes for me, I have the same process I do every week that I have had for years now.”

His Power counterpart Connor Rozee said his club was looking forward to bouncing back against its fierce rivals.

Jordan Dawson was back to his best. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images.

Connor Rozee and the Power want to bounce back. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

“We need to sit down and go through exactly what happened (against the Dogs) but we have played some good games of football this year so hopefully we can get back to that this week,” he said.

“I think with Showdown’s no matter what time of year they are or what has happened previously you always look forward to them.

“They are a couple of the games that you really look forward to at the start of the year.

“The past has shown that form doesn’t really matter too much, both teams are pretty excited to get out there and play.

“I think we will be pretty keen to respond as a club, regardless of whether it is a Showdown or not or against another club.

“We will be pretty excited to get out there and get into it.”

The two were speaking at the traditional Showdown captain’s media conference.

Based on that it looks set to be a week where the two sides do not trade barbs in the lead-up to the game.

“I’ll probably leave the theatre to the external people,” Rozee said.

“Clearly there has been a great rivalry and those games feel like finals, the pressure goes up a bit.”

In the last Showdown it was the Crows whipping up the rivalry with young star Josh Rachele saying Port fans had no teeth.

Dawson said it would be a different build-up this year.

“We will leave the build up to you guys, for us it is about just playing footy and no matter where the teams are on the ladder it is a good contest,” he said.