Adelaide recalls defensive specialist Luke Brown for Showdown 46 as Bryce Gibbs breaks down with back injury

Adelaide has taken a Showdown 46 gamble, promoting lockdown small defender Luke Brown for his first AFL game of the season on one of the biggest stages of all.

• Kane Cornes: Which Adelaide midfield will turn up?
• Can we top last year’s incredible Showdowns?
• Teams: All the Round 8 ins and outs

Adelaide has taken a Showdown 46 gamble, promoting lockdown small defender Luke Brown for his first AFL game of the season on one of the biggest stages of all.

The 135-game backman returned from ankle surgery in the SANFL last week and was on managed minutes, finishing with 14 disposals against Norwood at The Parade.

But the Crows have enough confidence in the 26-year-old to bring him straight back into the hurly-burly action of a Showdown on Saturday night after veteran utility Bryce Gibbs was ruled out after experiencing back spasms early in the week and failing to train at the club’s main session at Football Park on Thursday.

“He has improved over the past 24 hours, but wasn’t able to complete enough training to be available for this weekend,” Adelaide general manager of high performance Matt Hass said of Gibbs.

There was no AFL recall for out-of-form key forward Josh Jenkins, who also missed training with an ankle injury.

While the favoured Crows made just the one change for the derby, Port Adelaide — attempting to square the Showdown ledger at 23 — swung the selection axe, despite missing a host of key players through injury.

Prized rookie Zak Butters — so good in the early rounds — was dropped from its 22, along with long-kicking defender Riley Bonner.

Co-captain Ollie Wines (ankle) and veteran midfielder/forward Brad Ebert (concussion) also are out from the team that lost to Collingwood by 39 points last week.

Johnson averages 8 disposals, 3 tackles and .8 goals in his 10 AFL games. Very interesting selection for a Showdown- I’d say he’s in to tag Laird or Smith. We will disect both teams on @1629senSA in the morning #AFLPowerCrows https://t.co/VlQP3SB2xj

— Kane Cornes (@kanecornes) May 9, 2019

The quartet was replaced by veteran Matthew Broadbent, who will play his first AFL game in 647 days following a long battle with a serious ankle injury, Steven Motlop, Kane Farrell and Aidyn Johnson.

Former Cat Motlop has been promoted after spending three weeks in the SANFL rediscovering some form, while forwards Farrell and Johnson have been named for their first AFL games of the season.

Farrell kicked three goals in Showdown 45 in just his second AFL match.

With co-captains Wines and Tom Jonas (calf) and vice-captain Hamish Hartlett (hamstring) sidelined, Port’s longest-serving skipper Travis Boak, who relinquished the captaincy after six years at the end of last season, will again take the leadership reins.

“Boaky is coming in and filling the void,” Power senior assistant coach Michael Voss said.

“The boys are pretty familiar, he’s got a bit of experience in his pre-match addresses so he should be good to go. He jumped at it and it was quite obvious.”

Port Adelaide’s Steven Motlop, right, marks at training with Justin Westhoff and Tom Rockliff. Picture: Sarah Reed

Showdown 46 looms as a battle of depth, with both clubs fielding understrength line-ups because of a rash of injuries.

The Power will be missing a staggering 1160 games of experience without seven members of its best 22 — Wines (134 games), Jonas (126), four-times Showdown Medallist Robbie Gray (205), Hartlett (153), Brad Ebert (242), key forward Charlie Dixon (126) and former Demon Jack Watts (174).

The Crows will have 993 games of experience — among those players considered in the mix for their best 22 — sitting in the Adelaide Oval stands on Saturday night because of injuries.

Gibbs (258 games) will be joined by lead ruckman Sam Jacobs (198), defensive playmakers Wayne Milera (48) and Tom Doedee (21), veteran midfielder Richard Douglas (238), long-kicking wingman Paul Seedsman (90) and Jenkins (140).

PORT ADELAIDE V ADELAIDE

Adelaide Oval, Saturday 7.10pm

POWER

B: Broadbent, Clurey, Houston

HB: Burton, Howard, Byrne-Jones

C: Duursma, Rockliff, Amon

HF: Marhsall, Westhoff, Motlop

F: S. Gray, Ryder, Rozee

FOLL: Lycett, Powell-Pepper, Boak

I/C: Drew, Johnson, Lienert, Farrell

EMG: Butters, Frampton, Mayes, McKenzie

IN: Broadbent, Motlop, Johnson, Farrell

OUT: Bonner (omitted), Butters (omitted), Wines (injured), Ebert (injured)

CROWS

B: Laird, Talia, Hartigan

HB: Smith, Keath, Mackay

C: Gallucci, B. Crouch, Atkins

HF: Knight, Walker, Lynch

F: Murphy, Himmelberg, Betts

FOLL: O’Brien, M. Crouch, Sloane

I/C: Greenwood, Kelly, Brown, Ellis-Yolmen

EMG: Poholke, Jones, Fogarty, Hunter

IN: Brown

OUT: Gibbs (injured)