Showdown 54: Shane McAdam excited by chance to finally play in cross-town blockbuster
It’s been a while coming, but finally Shane McAdam gets to experience the fierce rivalry Showdown on field. And now that he’s got his chance, he plans to make the most of it.
Port Adelaide
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Finally Shane McAdam gets to experience it.
He’s watched it, and felt the buzz around town.
But playing in the Showdown so far has eluded him in his five years at Adelaide.
This will change on Saturday night when McAdam gets to experience the fierce rivalry in a whole new way.
“It’s very exciting,” he said.
“Since I’ve been at the club I haven’t been in any (as a player) but just the feel around the city and the footy club is really exciting.
“I’ve watched a few of the games and very excited to be a part of it this week.
“Mostly I’ve tried to come to the game if I’m available and just the atmosphere around the stadium, if they are our home games or port home games the atmosphere is going to be unreal.
“I’m excited that’s for sure.”
Making his Showdown debut isn’t the only thing that has a spring in McAdam’s step – he is back in the Crows’ AFL side.
First he was suspended for three matches, in a highly publicised case after his bump on GWS’ Jacob Wehr.
And when he was getting close to being in the mix to return to the side he then suffered a quad injury, which kept him out for a chunk of time.
“It has been a bit of a frustrating year so far for me,” McAdam said.
“With the suspension obviously and then being injured just as I was coming back from my suspension.
“So that kept me out for a little while, I had to build up my match fitness again.
“I needed to get that before I could return to the AFL side.
“It did (come at the worst time) it came at a really bad time.
“But I looked at it as like having another short pre-season because I knew I wouldn’t be playing in the games.
“So I just had to work hard and put my head down, I got there in the end.”
The three-game ban McAdam got for his bump, which the Crows unsuccessfully tried to have thrown out, led to Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks describing the act as “finished” within the game.
The 28-year-old conceded that it had forced a change in his game.
“I definitely learnt my lesson,” he said.
“Growing up I always played aggressive footy and I guess the way the game is going now you just have to be mindful and have a duty of care towards the opposition and their welfare.
“You have to be smart about the way you go about it. So I definitely had to change a bit of the way I play.”
Unable to play, McAdam got back in touch with his roots.
When the players had a break, McAdam was given a couple of extra days so he could go back home to Halls Creek in Western Australia.
As it usually is, it was just the tonic for him having to deal with a tougher year than expected.
“The club really helped me there, during a four-day break I was obviously injured so they gave me an extra few days off to go back home to Halls Creek,” he said.
“So I got away from Adelaide, it was a bit of a refresher especially of the mind.
“So I went back home to Halls Creek, which I really enjoyed.
“Saw everyone, went bush, went swimming, did a lot of hunting, a lot of camping, as much as I could while I was up there.
“I think that was one of the reasons why the club let me go back because every time I do go home I almost come back a new person, just refreshed.”
But unlike previous times he has been allowed back to Halls, McAdam got to catch some footy while he was there.
“I got the opportunity to watch some local footy when I was back home, which I haven’t done in a long time so that was really enjoyable,” he said.
“It’s a bit different to what it is like in the AFL I’ll tell you that, not many people moving out of the goalsquare.
“They play fast footy, no structure, no defence, just all offence.
“And speccys, it is just an exciting style of footy just a lot of offence, lot of speccys and a lot of snaps.
“It is good to watch.”
It’s been long pondered whether there is something in the water at Halls Creek given the amount of AFL and AFLW players the shire, which has a population of just over 4000, has produced.
McAdam’s brother Ash Johnson is at Collingwood, cousins Jy Farrar and Sam Petrevski-Seton are at Gold Coast and West Coast and Toby Bedford is now at GWS.
“I don’t know what it is (about Halls Creek), it is just the love of the game,” he said.
“I always keep in touch with them.
“We have a weekly FaceTime over the phone and then a lot of time just having a chat and a laugh about things.”
Johnson has played 14 games for the Magpies this year, and the way he and the Pies thrilled helped McAdam when he was not playing.
“That was probably one of the positive of me not playing I get to watch my brother (Ash) play and even just watching Collingwood, they are the team to beat and we aspire to be like them and then better,” McAdam said.
“They are good to watch and I enjoy watching my brother too.”
If recent history is an indicator then there will be more players from Halls Creek having a crack at the AFL.
McAdam, who arrived at Adelaide after being selected by Carlton as a mature-age pre-draft access pick and then traded to the Crows, is hoping to help them there after becoming more and more comfortable as a leader in his community.
“Yeah definitely, especially going home now and seeing the younger boys who look up to me gives me inspiration to keep going and keep having a crack here in the big smoke,” he said.
“What I learn while I’m here in the city I try and take back and teach it to the younger boys who are coming up there.
“Whether it is going away and getting an education or going away to find opportunities to go and play footy, because there are a lot of good footy players back home.
“It is just trying to give them the drive and showing them that they can do it.
“A lot of competitive people come out of Halls Creek and they have talent but it is just about whether they want to do it and realise that they have an opportunity.
“So that’s what I’m trying to do, show the people there that they can do it.”
Rozee opens up on surreal journey to Showdown milestone
Connor Rozee looked at the fixture and did the math.
While at 23 he still considers himself as one of the young players at Port Adelaide, he knew that he would most likely play his 100th game for the Power in 2023.
So he looked at the fixtures and realised that if he stayed fit, he would bring up his milestone in the perfect way.
In the Showdown, against fierce rivals Adelaide.
“If I got to pick a game (to be his 100th) it would be this,” Rozee said.
“I had a look at it earlier in the season just to see where it would land and I saw it would land on the Showdown so I was hoping I could stay healthy to get there.
“It’s great, I love playing in the Showdowns. The atmosphere will be great and hopefully it will give everyone an incentive to win.”
Given his age, and this is his fifth season, Rozee reaching the 100 game milestone already might catch a few by surprise.
It is a bit surreal for Rozee himself.
“It is a bit strange when I sit back and think about it because you grow up watching and supporting football but to be a part of it and now established and have a proper career is really fulfilling,” he said.
“Yeah I think when you first make the AFL it is about just wanting to make the team, fortunately we had a young group that was able to establish itself pretty quickly and after that to play as many games as possible.
“You don’t really put a number on it but you are just wanting to play every week and be as successful as possible.”
The 100-game milestone will be another one for Rozee’s ever-growing list of achievements.
He’s a reigning club best and fairest, has an All-Australian blazer, a Showdown Medal, two Peter Badcoe VC Medals and a leading goalkicker for Port Adelaide from his first season in the AFL.
It is something Rozee could only dream about growing up as a sports mad kid in Port Augusta, until he was 13 when his family moved down to Adelaide so he could chase his sporting dreams.
“Growing up in the country you probably don’t expect to have the opportunity to do something like this,” he said.
“So luckily my family made the choice to move down when I was 13 and it opened a lot of doors and gave me a lot of opportunities and I was able to make the most out of it.
“I look back on my friends from Port Augusta and they are either still living there or have moved down here now and are at uni or working and I am able to do this which is pretty cool.
“I think this sort of lifestyle makes you mature more quickly having to do this sort of stuff. It is not normal for a 20-year-old kid so it has made me mature and grow in my leadership qualities more.”
But while his career looks to be on track for what you would expect from a No. 5 pick, Rozee’s 2018 draft class is considered to be one of the strongest in recent years, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the Power star.
After he burst onto the scene in his debut year in 2019, kicking 29 goals to finish the seasons as the Power’s leading goalkicker, there was considerable debate about whether he would be the best player to emerge out of his stacked draft class.
But while he played the majority of games for the Power, years two and three in 2020 and 2021 weren’t as impressive.
“I think it was just adapting to AFL life and after having a strong first season you start to get a bit more attention,” he said.
“In your first year teams don’t expect too much of you and you cop not the best defender every week and you are probably playing a lot more freely.
“In the second and third year I struggled a bit with injury and a few other things and half forward can be a really tough role at times.
“It probably helped me in the long run to understand that the AFL is not going to be easy.”
Because of this, the narrative around Rozee changed to would he actually realise the huge potential he has.
After a quiet start to 2022, Rozee himself thought he might get dropped as the Power made a horror start to its season.
But instead in a show of faith from Ken Hinkley, he was thrown into the midfield and produced a breakout year.
When asked if he was surprised at actually how well he played in 2022, Rozee lets out a little chuckle.
“Yeah a little bit,” he said.
“Especially since I had trained a little bit in the midfield during pre-season but I wasn’t expecting to play a lot there.
“Kenny gave me an opportunity and things worked out.
“You never really expect to play as well as I did so I was a little bit surprised.”
In 2023 Rozee has not only continued this stellar form but has lifted his game, while also becoming more consistent.
“I think I’ve probably just become more consistent in knowing what you can expect from me,” he said.
“Last year it was a bit surprising for a lot of people in terms of how I started the year and I had a few breakout games and I think that was my challenge this year personally to come out and not start slow and then build from there.”
This new-found level of consistency now has Rozee as not only one of the best young talents in the game but now one of premier players in the competition.
Not that he is trying to take any notice of this.
“It is a little bit weird still but I don’t read too much into it to be honest, I don’t follow any of the footy social media sites,” he said.
“The only time I really hear about it is from family and friends who send me something.
“To be honest the guys inside the football club keep me pretty humble.”
None more so than now mentor Travis Boak, who Rozee said had been one of, if not the, biggest influence over his first 100 games.
“Preparation and recovery has been the biggest (lessons that Boak has taught him), he is great and he has taught me a lot over the last few years about separating yourself as a footballer and who you are off the field,” Rozee said.
“Because that is all that everyone wants to talk about with you (footy) 24/7 which can be a little bit too much sometimes.
“So it is nice to be able to go home and have that different side of me and separate it.”
So what would Rozee want to talk about instead of footy?
“Anything. It is interesting because people think that we absolutely love it which we do and it is a great job to do but we seem to talk about it with every single person we interact with and that is why I like to keep my circle of people I hang out with small,” he said.
“And those people understand that when I come home I don’t really want to talk about what I did at training because I have been doing that with 500 random people all day.
“I’m at university, studying business. I also love my golf but anything really to take my mind off of footy.
“I like watching sport and absolutely love the EPL, I’m a huge Liverpool fan so any time I can watch that and take my mind off that (footy) is great.”
But despite this, and still being 23, Rozee has emulating Boak and leading the Power as one of his big aims.
“I think my leadership is probably the main thing I want to grow in the next few years,” he said.
“We have such a great group and I feel like I have become a bit of leader among the guys and I would love to potentially become some sort of leader one day and hopefully lead this club to a flag one day because there are a lot of people who have done a lot for this footy club and haven’t gotten the rewards.”
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