AFL Showdown 57 Port Adelaide v Adelaide: Izak Rankine, Mark Keane lead Crows to famous win
After three quarters of twists and turns, Showdown 57 was in the balance with 20 minutes remaining. Enter Izak Rankine – and then Mark Keane. Here’s how another classic unfolded.
Mark Keane you star.
Adelaide fans might have their own Leo Barry moment after the Crows’ Irish key defender stood tall and took the mark of his life to clinch a thrilling Showdown for his side.
Fittingly, given the 28-28 record between the fierce rivals, the first half was an arm wrestle and the second was thrilling.
Neither side gave an inch, Port Adelaide desperate to respond after a mauling last week and the Crows looking to finally well and truly go past their fierce rival.
Port looked to have the Crows on the ropes just before the 13 minute mark of the third quarter when Sam Powell-Pepper put the Power eight points up – capping a run of four of the past five goals of the game.
But the Power was unable to land a finishing blow, and the Crows responded with big punches of their own.
Izak Rankine had been extremely quiet, but in a show of what was to come, he produced his best kick of the game so far to set up Riley Thilthorpe – who just bullied the Power’s defence all night –- for a goal.
Ben Keays and then Darcy Fogarty got the Crows back in the lead with just under four minutes left in the third term.
Port responded through a Jason Horne-Francis stunner to bring the margin back to two-points going into the final break.
It was all set up for someone to steal the show – and, first, it was Rankine.
It looked like the Crows were going to run away with it after some big final-quarter moments from the superstar.
He was heavily involved in Fogarty’s goal just over five minutes into the term and then he turned what was almost nothing into something when he soccered the ball through the big sticks two minutes later.
But keeping in line with the match the Power wasn’t done and a Darcy Byrne-Jones goal with four minutes on the clock, and then Jeremy Finlayson with 1.47 to go, had the margin back at four-points.
But just when it looked like the Power – who had all the late momentum – would go on and claim a stunning and famous win, Keane wrote himself into Showdown folklore in the second-last attack of the game
As he was falling backwards, the Irishman somehow managed to hold onto the ball and deny the Power with the mark of his career, and probably of his life.
“We have seen some great marks in our time... and in the context of where it is and what he has done. He is just a hero,” Melbourne legend Garry Lyon said on Fox Footy.
It’s why we love the Showdown so much, and we now have another famous moment.
MATCH REPORT: Crows hold on in another dramatic Showdown
– Daniel Renfrey
Adelaide, led by a dominant Riley Thilthorpe and an assured backline, held on at the death of another dramatic Showdown thriller to claim hometown bragging rights over Port Adelaide again.
The star talisman was at his best up front and around the ground, taking 10 marks, booting three goals and creating more for his teammates as the Crows ran out 13.11 (89) to 12.12 (84) winners and regained a 29-28 advantage in the head-to-head between the arch rivals.
It was a typical hard-fought battle between the two clubs with each side attacking the contest with courage and putting their bodies on the line to win the footy.
The Crows had the early ascendancy through strong work by Thilthorpe and Peatling, who was dominant in the middle with 24 touches and 12 tackles, but the Power would soon claw their way back into the contest behind the inspirational captain Connor Rozee (32 touches and a goal), who won the Showdown Medal for his brilliant play off of halfback, and Zak Butters’ courage in the middle.
The tug of war continued through the next two terms but the Crows, inspired by Izak Rankine, looked to have firm control of the clash with a 21-point lead early in the fourth despite Port Adelaide’s huge clearance advantage (56-29 for the game) before the Power put on a late surge in front of a raucous home crowd.
Adelaide’s defence, led by Mark Keane and Josh Worrell, stood tall in the dying minutes to quell Port Adelaide’s constant flurry of inside 50s and earn the win.
KEANE AND O’BRIEN STAND TALL
Port Adelaide had all the momentum late in the first quarter after goals from Darcy Byrne-Jones and Jeremy Finlayson cut the Crows’ lead to just four points with two minutes remaining, but it would be Adelaide’s defence which would win the game.
Mark Keane and Reilly O’Brien both took big marks in the dying seconds to hold off an inspired Power outfit and win the game.
HORNE-FRANCIS’ MOMENT OF BRILLIANCE
Horne-Francis was kept relatively quiet through the first two terms but would stamp his footprint on the game late in the third term, intercepting a wayward Crows handball inside 50 and finishing his work with a spectacular goal near the boundary on the run.
The goal pulled Port Adelaide back to within a kick and halted the momentum the Crows had built in the second half of the quarter.
Jason Horne-Francis, that is ridiculous!#AFLPowerCrowspic.twitter.com/AuEY6Btj0D
— AFL (@AFL) May 10, 2025
RANKINE PRODUCES MAGIC
Izak Rankine had been relatively quiet before the fourth quarter but produced a typical moment of magic to give Adelaide breathing room.
With the Crows up by just two kicks, the electric star broke free from a contest through a Reilly O’Brien handball and finished a slick goal on the run.
Then, after a Dawson centre clearance, Rankine swooped after a marking contest to soccer a brilliant goal home and give his side a 21-point lead.
SCOREBOARD
Port Adelaide 3.1, 7.3, 10.6, 12.12 (84)
Adelaide 3.4, 7.8, 10.8, 13.11 (89)
BEST
Port Adelaide: Connor Rozee, Zak Butters, Darcy Byrne-Jones, Jeremy Finlayson, Ollie Wines
Adelaide: Riley Thilthorpe, James Peatling, Mark Keane, Josh Worrell, Ben Keays
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Finlayson (2), Georgiades (2), Burton, Byrne-Jones, Powell-Pepper
Adelaide: Rachele (2), Thilthorpe (2), Fogarty, Keays, Neal-Bullen
VOTES
3 Rozee
2 Thilthorpe
1 Peatling
Originally published as AFL Showdown 57 Port Adelaide v Adelaide: Izak Rankine, Mark Keane lead Crows to famous win
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