It is eight years - almost to the day - since the AFL promised a Friday night Showdown but still not delivered

Malcolm Blight says the Showdown battles between the Crows and Port Adelaide are the AFL’s best rivalry, so why does it not get Friday night national attention?

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Port Adelaide co-captain Tom Jonas could not have been more emphatic to a question that has an obvious answer.

“If we could get a Showdown played on a Friday night here to showcase (the derby nationally), that would be good,” the Power’s key defender said on SEN1629.

It is eight years - almost to the day (May 4, 2011) - since then-AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou offered as an incentive a Friday Night Showdown if the Adelaide and Port Adelaide Football Clubs, SANFL and SACA came to terms to put AFL games on a redeveloped Adelaide Oval.

By the time the gates were ready to open at the Oval in 2014 - with a derby in Round 2 - it was obvious to all that a Friday Night Showdown would put too much pressure on the city, particularly with traffic, as everyone - fans, venue staff and the clubs - felt their way through a stadium that had no test event.

And since that successful Saturday twilight start to the Showdown story at Adelaide Oval - 4.15, Saturday, March 29, 2014 - the derby has been assigned Saturday and Sunday timeslots and repeatedly been denied the free-to-air national television coverage with the Melbourne-centric Seven network.

This is despite the Showdown repeatedly proving Hall of Famer Malcolm Blight’s claim that the Crows and Port Adelaide have the best rivalry in Australian football. In 45 Showdowns since the first at Football Park in April 1997, five have been decided by a goal or less; 12 by 7-12 points (including three in a row by eight points); 11 by 13-24 points.

That is 28 of 45 derbies decided by four goals or less.

Last year’s two Showdowns delivered dramatic finishes by three and five points with Port Adelaide claiming the first with Steve Motlop’s winning goal from a centre-bounce play to put the derby ledger at 22-22. Adelaide regained its superiority on the derby counter in the second Showdown with that much-debated goal from Josh Jenkins - did it or did it not hit the post at the northern end.

Such drama in two derbies created speculation late last season that the AFL would finally deliver on its long-standing Friday Night Showdown promise.

But if - as it is said - the AFL was “this close” to fixturing a Friday night derby and free-to-air broadcaster Seven was keen for the Showdown, who was the mystery “third party” that stopped it?

Seven has preferred to produce the St Kilda-West Coast game from the Docklands - rather than the Showdown - this Saturday night. This gives Seven a Melbourne-based team for its critical Victorian market - and delivers the Eagles to its Perth screens.

The guarantee of all Crows and Power games being shown on free-to-air television in Adelaide - even when the match is produced by Fox Footy - has allowed Seven to “double-dip” this weekend.

Would a Showdown deliver more free-to-air ratings in Melbourne than St Kilda-West Coast?

After 23 years of a remarkable Crows-Power rivalry, there would seem little risk in testing the market on a Friday night.

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