Port Adelaide had the appetite for a tough Showdown battle, but the Power could not finish its hard work

Ken Hinkley’s unbalanced line-up lacked effective key options in attack to put a winning score on the board as an unheralded Adelaide defender helped his team to victory.

• Live blog recap: Crows stave off late Power fightback
• Match centre: All the stats and SuperCoach scores

Port Adelaide did not lack effort. Nor was the Power short of ambition. It did not give up even when the derby seemed lost with a 44-point, last-quarter deficit.

But Ken Hinkley’s unbalanced line-up did lack effective key options in attack to put on the Adelaide Oval scoreboard a meaningful return — let alone a winning score — against Adelaide in Showdown 46 on Saturday night.

So much power in winning clearances — as a benefit of working to winning rucks with Patrick Ryder and Scott Lycett — led to very little in the goals tally, the only statistic that is recalled in the roll call of Showdown stories.

Todd Marshall no goal in a derby decided by 20 points.

Justin Westhoff no goal.

Lycett and Ryder, when alternating in attack, no goal.

No surprise then that Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley had to move key defender Dougal Howard to attack at time-on of the third term — when the Power was 34 points down — as he searched for a winning forward. Howard kicked two goals.

As strong and committed as Port Adelaide was to stand up in the contests that define Showdowns, the Power could not score in a game that demands goals … not just forward rushes, as measured by inside-50s.

Port Adelaide’s Dougal Howard competes with Adelaide’s Jake Kelly on Saturday night. Picture: Sarah Reed

This derby was lost for Port Adelaide forward of centre.

Port Adelaide went to “retro” leadership. While much was made of the Power starting the derby without co-captains Tom Jonas (calf) and Ollie Wines (ankle), it is worth remembering Port Adelaide did field two former AFL captains — Boak, in his return to the role at Alberton, and former Brisbane skipper Tom Rockliff.

It was not leadership Port Adelaide lacked.

The “rewind” story of the night was with defender Matthew Broadbent in his first AFL game for almost two years after repetitive setbacks with a foot-ankle injuries. The 28-year-old — after testing himself against Adelaide’s best play-reading and creative forward, Tom Lynch — now knows exactly how the AFL game has moved on since his previous match on July 29, 2017.

Some of Broadbent’s defensive colleagues will not feel uneasy in the post-match review as they note the “little things” that make the big difference in tough contests such as Showdowns. Such as Dan Houston’s slip on the rain-soaked Oval late in the first term that led to a panic handball — and being picked off by Crows co-captain Rory Sloane for Adelaide’s second goal.

Port Adelaide’s Scott Lycett handballs under pressure. Picture: Sarah Reed

And the Power coaching staff might choose to leave the sound of the Fox Footy commentary team in the review. Motlop hear himself being branded “soft” by Brisbane premiership forward Jonathan Brown and former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon for the third-quarter turnover that gave Adelaide’s other co-captain, Taylor Walker, a set shot for the Crows’ seventh goal.

Reputations — good and bad — are indeed made in Showdowns.

Port Adelaide’s greatest challenge in every Showdown is dealing with specialist Crows small forward Eddie Betts, who has built a legendary reputation by kicking 21.5 in his previous six derbies. The task began with Hawthorn recruit Ryan Burton — a match-up torn up after just 10 minutes with Burton straining a hamstring.

And then the Betts assignment rolled through the Power defenders like a revolving door at a major airport — Howard, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Houston … in a zone where even midfielder-forward Motlop had to work as a back man.

Betts finished with no goal. Many Power key forwards know just that feeling.

BROWN’S BIG MOMENT IN RETURN GAME

A mere 17-seconds into the second quarter and Port midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper had kicked a ripping goal to edge within five points of the Crows. The game was hanging in the balance.

Seven minutes (and a Crows goal) later, Port’s ruckman Scott Lycett snapped at the sticks after scooping the ball from a pack and the Power faithful roared.

But Adelaide’s small defender Luke Brown had put out his hand and got a finger on the ball. Sure, it was minuscule, but when Lycett’s kick was put through the score review, there it was: Brown’s finger bending back.

Adelaide’s Tom Lynch and Taylor Walker celebrate a goal in the Showdown win over Port Adelaide on Saturday night. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

This was an important moment in the second quarter, had Lycett’s goal been given, Port would have had 2.2 to the Crows’ 3.3, instead they sat 1.3 — a full two goals behind Adelaide.

And as Port’s stellar final quarter comeback started playing out, Brown’s smother seemed even more important.

Bringing Brown back for his first AFL game of the season after ankle surgery had seemed somewhat of a gamble from the Crows’ camp: after all, if experienced midfielder Bryce Gibbs not gone down with back spasms on Thursday, presumably, Brown wouldn’t have played his first game of the 2019 season.

But sometimes footy presents opportunities like these: when one player goes down, another steps up and Brown sure took his. He put the Port home crowd off-side with his clean and crisp handling of the ball in a night that was scrappy and error-riddled, particularly in the first half.

Kyle Hartigan of the Crows is tackled by Jarrod Lienert of the Power. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

Where his team-mates were playing with a ball that looked as it had been smothered in grease before the start of play, in contrast, Brown was sitting on a staggering 100 per cent disposal efficiency rate for his 12 touches in the closing minutes of the first half. He finished the game with 18 disposals (12 kicks, six handballs) with a 94.4 efficiency: the best of any player.

He stood up against the likes of Powell-Pepper, and Karl Amon and added another element to the Adelaide defence that this season has seen heroes made of the likes of Alex Keath and Kyle Hartigan.

Last week, Adelaide’s defence let through 5.4 from Fremantle and up until three quarter time Port had been held to only three goals — their lowest tally to three-quarter-time in any Showdown (aided certainly by the Power’s inaccuracy).

The question now is how and when Gibbs will come back into the side as the Crows look forward to a tough month ahead which seems them travel north to take on Brisbane next Saturday afternoon, followed by West Coast, Melbourne and then GWS.

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