Adelaide Crows ruckman Sam Jacobs not short of personal inspiration in Showdown 44

CROWS ruckman Sam Jacobs’ duels with Port Adelaide’s Patrick Ryder should have settled his rise to All-Australian status, but the selectors thought otherwise - adding to the Showdown rivalry.

Andrew Phillips of the Blues competes against Sam Jacobs of the Crows.

CROWS lead ruckman Sam Jacobs takes Showdowns personally - and for an extra reason as his critical battle with Port Adelaide rival Patrick Ryder sends a message back to the All-Australian selectors.

Jacobs, 30, will play his 14th derby in Showdown 44 at Adelaide Oval on Saturday fired up on many fronts. There always is the memory of how he was sent away by the Power after knocking on the door at Alberton at the end of the 2010 AFL season as he executed his homecoming from Carlton.

Jacobs’ battle with Ryder - or the Power’s alternative three-man ruck battery led by Charlie Dixon - will be a critical part in deciding if the Crows can extend their Showdown dominance to six consecutive derbies and a 23-21 lead.

Matthew Kreuzer of the Blues and Sam Jacobs of the Crows compete for the ball.

Jacobs had 42 hit-outs in each Showdown last season - and won the Showdown Medal in the last derby. But Ryder won All-Australian selection, setting up a grand rivalry within an intense derby.

“It has ... and it is a great challenge when ‘Paddy’ is a great player and seems to be getting better as he gets older,” Jacobs told The Advertiser.

“It won’t affect the way I play (if Power coach Ken Hinkley restyles his ruck battery to manage Ryder in his return from left Achilles tendinitis). Over time, I’ve shown I can keep playing - and playing high minutes.

“If they want to keep rotating ruckmen - knowing Ryder is a quality forward and Dixon is a man mountain - I’ll just worry about what I am doing and work against whoever they throw in (ruck).”

Jacobs did not need the All-Australian selectors to deliver him extra motivation - on top of the 2010 rebuff at Alberton - to win the Showdown.

“You always love beating Port Adelaide,” said Jacobs, a devotee of the Showdown rivalry he locked into as a nine-year-old when the derby began in 1997.

“As a South Australian, I grew up with the rivalry. And as a proud South Australian, there is nothing better than beating Port Adelaide.

“Every individual will find their way to deal with (the Showdown build-up). The Victorians (in both sides) probably take it as just another game, but I get excited. I enjoy the build-up.

“I have so many friends who are Port Adelaide fans, so there is that ribbing that adds to the rivalry - and for me that is all part of what makes for my favourite game of the year, without doubt.”

Jacobs - and the patched-up Crows - tuned up for the Showdown with a 55-point win against the last-ranked Carlton at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night and a reminder of how the players must take greater control when challenged by an unanswered run of opposition goals. This was evident in the second-term lapse to the Blues.

“We played three quarters - and responded (to Carlton’s comeback) at half-time,” Jacobs said. “We have to get better at when quarters are not going our way (that we) make sure we hold teams.

“You want to have the ability to change (your game) within a quarter. You don’t want to have to waste a whole quarter - and then restart. It’s not that an opposition team can’t have its turn with momentum; it’s about us stopping it.”

Jacobs, a three-time Showdown Medallist, grades his season as building from a slow start.

“I feel I’m startin to play some consistent footy,” Jacobs said. “There’s a couple of areas to work on, but I’d be no different to any other player.