Showdown 53 Port Adelaide v Adelaide: Rivalry set to spark both clubs, final selection calls
Adelaide expects the Power to come out ‘breathing fire’ on Saturday nigh – but it will a slightly different looking Port side after Ken Hinkley made some big calls.
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Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks expects the Showdown to spark both clubs as they look to bounce back from disappointing performances.
“That rivalry is what lifts everyone,” Nicks said at Friday’s press conference alongside Power counterpart Ken Hinkley.
“We were as frustrated and disappointed as I’m sure Ken and his crew were after last weekend.
SHOWDOWN 53 LIVE: ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND THE BUILD-UP
“It’s a long week when you come off a loss and the game can’t come quick enough so it should be a ripper.
“I’ve got no doubt that mob will come out breathing fire, especially if he’s got anything to do with it, but our guys love that so we’re looking forward to it.”
The Crows made four changes, recalling key defender Jordon Butts after a one-week omission, picking forward Lachlan Gollant for his first AFL match since round 8 last year, promoting Riley Thilthorpe from substitute into the 22 and welcoming back Wayne Milera from an adductor issue.
Spearhead Darcy Fogarty (knee) was among the outs and was expected to miss one or two weeks.
He did not participate in Wednesday’s main session at West Lakes due to a medial strain sustained against the Tigers.
“We tried what we could for this week but we won’t take any risks around Fog,” Nicks said.
“We’ll just have to wait and see how it pulls up over the coming days.”
Nicks said Butts had responded really well to his axing.
“It’s not always something you see on the football field,” he said.
Port Adelaide also made four changes, including axing forwards Orazio Fantasia and Mitch Georgiades.
Fantasia, who missed all of last season with a quad injury, kicked 0.3 from nine touches in the season-opening win over Brisbane, then 1.2 from the same number of possessions against Collingwood.
“He hasn’t quite been able to hit the scoreboard like we know he can and will,” Hinkley said.
“He’s coming back from a long time out … so we’re probably not surprised that it’s taken a bit of time.”
While Fantasia looms as a likely substitute, Georgiades appears set to find form in the SANFL after booting 2.5 from his opening two matches.
Hinkley said the best thing Georgiades could do was lift the pressure he had put on himself by playing with freedom and enjoyment.
“Clearly he’s down a little on his confidence,” Hinkley said.
Half-back Jase Burgoyne (dropped) and defender Ryan Burton (suspended) are the Power’s other outs.
Forward Jeremy Finlayson, former captain Travis Boak, backman Tom Clurey and wingman Riley Bonner come into the 22.
THE TEAMS
POWER
B: R.Bonner, T.Jonas, T.Clurey
HB: D.Byrne-Jones, A.Aliir, D.Houston
C: M.Bergman, W.Drew, X.Duursma
HF: J.Finlayson, T.Marshall, C.Rozee
F: Z.Butters, C.Dixon, S.Powell-Pepper
FOLL: S.Lycett, O.Wines, J.Horne-Francis
I/C: K.Farrell, T.Boak, J.Rioli, L.Jones
EMG: O.Fantasia, B.Teakle, J.Burgoyne, J.Mead
IN: R.Bonner, T.Clurey, J.Finlayson
OUT: O.Fantasia (omitted), M.Georgiades (omitted), J.Burgoyne (omitted), R.Burton (suspension)
CROWS
B: T.Doedee, N.Murray, M.Michalanney
HB: B.Smith, J.Dawson - C, M.Hinge
C: B.Keays, R.Laird, L.Sholl
HF: J.Rachele, L.Pedlar, J.Soligo
F: T.Walker, L.Gollant, I.Rankine
FOLL: R.O’Brien, R.Sloane, S.Berry
I/C: J.Butts, W.Milera, L.Murphy, R.Thilthorpe
EMG: W.Hamill, C.Jones, E.Himmelberg, N.McHenry
IN: L.Gollant, J.Butts, W.Milera
OUT: E.Himmelberg (omitted), H.Schoenberg (omitted), D.Fogarty (knee), P.Parnell (concussion)
CROWS YOUNG GUN IN VERBAL TRAINING STOUSH WITH TEX
Young gun Josh Rachele has been the shining light of Adelaide’s season so far, despite a 0-2 start by the Crows.
But the former No. 6 draft pick wasn’t unable to escape a stern talking to by former Crows captain Taylor Walker at training ahead of the Showdown.
While the two are understood to get along extremely well, Rachele’s reaction to not being kicked the ball by Walker – the Crows’ leading goalkicker of all time – as the veteran prepared to take a set shot prompted an exchange of words after training.
Rachele has impressed for the Crows so far this year as he shifts between a forward and midfield role.
He nearly sparked an incredible Crows comeback against Richmond last time out for Adelaide.
BLIGHT: ‘GROWING PAINS’ REMAIN AT CROWS
Adelaide’s dual-premiership winning coach Malcolm Blight says the Crows are still experiencing growing pains.
Crows fans came into the 2023 season hoping that this was the year when the rebuild at West Lakes was finally over and they would at the very least start to challenge for finals.
The Crows’ pre-season performances over in Perth against Fremantle and West Coast only fuelled this hope.
It even had former Port Adelaide AFL games record holder Kane Cornes tipping the Crows to break into the top eight.
But the Crows have again dropped their first two games to start the season, shifting between hot and cold almost from half to half and even from quarter to quarter.
And now a date with fierce rival Port Adelaide in the Showdown beckons as the Crows look to avoid going 0-3.
Blight, the only man to guide the Crows to AFL premierships, said too much might have been taken from the pre-season performances.
“Yeah but it was because they beat the West Coast Eagles,” he said.
“Who were without some very good players, I mean they did play very well that day but it was just a practice game.
“People try things and I’m not sure that we are all thinking the West Coast Eagles are going to be a great team this year.
“You need to put it all in relativity and that is why those practice games, you learn something that’s all you learn and then you get into the real stuff and I just think it is where they are at.
“I probably have them somewhere between eight to 10 wins … I just can’t see how they can come from where they have been, what they have had to do with a younger list, they’ve got their 18 to 20 players under pick 30 now.
“They just need to develop like every other premiership team has in the last 30 years.”
For three quarters so far this year the Crows have looked near unstoppable as they flew out of the blocks in Round 1 against GWS and nearly produced a stunning comeback against Richmond in Round 2.
But for the remaining five they have been the complete opposite, with the same key areas letting them down again.
In the third quarter against Richmond on Saturday they scored 38 points, the amount they scored for the rest of the game.
Their contested possession differential was plus 19 compared to minus 15 for the other three quarters, clearances were plus six compared to minus nine, inside 50 differential was plus 17 while for the rest of the game it was minus 15 and their time in forward half was 76 per cent compared to 44 per cent for the remaining quarters.
Against GWS in Round 1 in the first half the scoreboard differential was plus 28 points compared to minute 44 for the third and four quarters.
The inside 50 differential was plus 5 in the first half compared to minus 13 in the second, clearances was plus 4 and minus 6.
In the first two quarters GWS scored 22 points from turnovers, in the second half the Giants scored 40, while their score per inside 50 went from 44 per cent to 58 per cent.
Blight said this was part of still having a young team.
“It is stock standard for younger teams, they are not the youngest team any more they are about the second or third now,” he said.
“But you just get those inconsistencies, everyone still questions themselves when they are young.
“It does take a while, the freaks come in and hit the ground running but they are few and far between.”
The Crows have been punished in transition by the Giants and the Tigers, who were able to exploit turnovers against them and pile on goals.
On Tuesday on his weekly radio spot on Triple M Taylor Walker labelled the Crows’ ability to transition from attack to defence as “nowhere near the level at the moment”.
“For example when the opposition gets a ground ball turnover especially, that is causing us some grief,” he said.
“They (Richmond) kicked 7.4 (from turnovers). Which is abnormally massive.
“Firstly understand we are very young in the midfield and I think transition is one of the hardest areas to learn.
“We just need to keep training it.”
Blight said experience played a big part in this.
“You probably would need to look at the source … and this is just by the eye but it is probably 50 per cent of the ball they had first and secondly it is downright getting beaten,” he said.
“Every player gets beaten at some stage and generally speaking senior players don’t get beaten as much as younger players.
“Because they know where to put their bodies.
“So you find it will happen for a while and it will probably happen for a while to come.”
But the 1997 and 1998 premiership winning coach said the Crows also needed to look at how they were practising goal kicking after kicking 18 and 16 behinds to start the season.
“It is one of those things that you have to practice but you have to practice the right way,” he said.
“You can have a million shots at goal but if you don’t set it up right with a group of you, where you run nine times out of 10 is where you kick for goal, so you need someone behind you.
“I always said to get really good at goal kicking you need four people, one kicking it, one standing the mark for set shots, one standing behind to see where you run so you run to the goals, through the goals, the right shoulder on the right post and you have one kicking it back to you.
“If you aren’t doing it like that I’m not sure you are practising it right.
“I know you have to practice your snap shots and boundary shots, all of that is very important, but if you don’t do the set shot practice properly you won’t do it right.”
After the loss to the Tigers, Adelaide senior coach Matthew Nicks apologised to Crows fans for the “frustration we are putting them through”.
The Crows have won just 18 games under Nicks, now in his fourth season.
He is contracted until 2024 and it is understood there is no change among the view of key Crows figures that Nicks is the coach for them and he will be given time.
Blight said he didn’t think Nicks would be under pressure.
“My opinion is that he wouldn’t be,” he said.
“He would be growing as a coach, he would be learning more about each of the players and he would be learning more about himself.
“It takes time, to get a premiership in your first year is a fluke an absolute fluke.
“It is an acquired behaviour, it is an acquired knowledge, you keep learning things about people, your players, your staff
“It takes a while.”
He did say he would like to see the Crows put some more speed into their game when attacking.
“I just think Craig McRae at Collingwood has brought joy to my eyes, he actually takes the game on so you can’t get set-up against quickly in defence,” he said.
“This whole team defence 99 per cent mantra has been driving people mad for the last 10 years, he has actually taken the game on from the back.
“Now you need good skills and smart players and you need to get through so teams can’t put that chip, chip round the back and then set-up behind the ball.
“I’ve always been amazed that football went that way because it wasn’t for a 120 years before hand.
“I get the game changes, but when you are a young side I think the only way you can really score is to do it quickly with good fresh legs.”
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