Showdown 49 Adelaide v Port Adelaide: Travis Boak to return as Ken Hinkley confirms Power team changes
Port Adelaide will welcome back Travis Boak. But, in a surprise, a young defender has been dropped. And it could mean a number of positional changes. See the team.
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Star midfielder Travis Boak is back after a one-week absence to boost Port Adelaide for Showdown 49.
Power coach Ken Hinkley revealed Boak would be one of two changes, along with wingman Kane Farrell, for Saturday night’s clash with the Crows.
Boyd Woodcock, Sam Mayes and Marty Frederick, who is the likely medical substitute, come out of the side.
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Hinkley said Boak, who finished runner-up in last year’s Brownlow Medal and missed the Round-7 loss to Brisbane, was ready to play.
“Rory Sloane’s a good in for them and Trav Boak’s a good in for us,” Hinkley said.
“I think both boys will make it pretty even with who’s coming in.”
Frederick’s omission may prompt Miles Bergman and Dan Houston to shuffle to half-back and Robbie Gray to spend more time in the midfield.
Hinkley said Frederick, who impressed on debut against St Kilda in Round 6, was a little unlucky.
“Marty’s been in pretty good form and is pretty exciting and we think he’ll be an exciting part of the future,” he said.
The third-placed Power comes into the game off the back of a 49-point away loss to Brisbane, while the 13th-ranked Crows are looking to respond after a 67-point home defeat to GWS.
‘BODIES FLYING’: INSIDE STORY OF THE FIRST SHOWDOWN
Port Adelaide crunched its rivals in two pre-season clashes but Hinkley said they had improved and his side was wary of them.
“They’ve been really consistent from Round 1 right through,” he said of the Crows.
“When they’re hunting they get a good result and they’ve played some pretty damaging football.
“Both of us know the Showdowns are won on the day, it’s not going to be won on where the ladder is or where the form is.
“We’re both coming off a disappointing week last week so both teams will be pretty fired up.”
Hinkley said Zak Butters was on track in his six-to-eight-week recovery from ankle syndesomis surgery.
“We’ve got Lachie Jones with the same operation and they were a week apart,” he said.
“Lachie’s probably a little in front of Zak.”
PORT ADELAIDE v ADELAIDE
Saturday May 8, 7:10pm (local time) at Adelaide Oval
POWER
B: R.Burton, T.Clurey, A.Aliir
HB: H.Hartlett, T.Jonas, D.Byrne-Jones
C: W.Drew, O.Wines, K.Amon
HF: O.Fantasia, T.Marshall, S.Motlop
F: C.Rozee, C.Dixon, R.Gray
FOLL: S.Lycett, T.Boak, D.Houston
I/C: M.Bergman, M.Georgiades, K.Farrell, S.Powell-Pepper
EMG: M.Frederick, P.Ladhams, T.McKenzie, B.Woodcock
IN: T.Boak, K.Farrell
OUT: M.Frederick, B.Woodcock, S.Mayes (all omitted)
CROWS
B: J.Kelly, J.Butts, L.Brown
HB: B.Smith, T.Doedee, D.Mackay
C: L.Sholl, B.Keays, P.Seedsman
HF: N.McHenry, E.Himmelberg, S.Berry
F: J.Rowe, T.Walker, L.Murphy
FOLL: R.O’Brien, R.Laird, R.Sloane
I/C: H.Schoenberg, W.Hamill, D.Fogarty, R.Thilthorpe
EMG: A.McPherson, C.Jones, J.Worrell, B.Frampton
IN: L.Brown, R.Sloane, W.Hamill
OUT: A.McPherson, S.McAdam, N.Murray, J.Hately (all omitted)
Recovery time set after Rocky’s double injury blow
- Nick Smart
Port Adelaide midfielder Tom Rockliff has suffered an unusual double injury setback, hurting both of his knees in the same incident in the SANFL last weekend.
Rockliff has gone under the knife to undertake a partial medial meniscectomy after suffering a tear in the cartilage in his right knee.
The injury is likely to have occurred in the same incident as the MCL sprain the former Brisbane captain suffered to his left knee during the club’s SANFL win over reigning premier Woodville-West Torrens last Sunday.
The club said this only became apparent on Tuesday after his right knee became painful and swollen.
Subsequent investigation revealed the 31-year-old had an isolated tear of the medial meniscus, which required surgery.
The procedure was completed Thursday night, while his left knee remains in a brace as the MCL continues to recover.
It is expected that the timeframe for his return will remain the same, with the ball-winner six to eight weeks away.
Rockliff has not played an AFL game since Round 1.
REVEALED: THE POWER STAR WHO COULD TAME TEX
Liz Walsh
He might be playing in his first Showdown, but Port Adelaide’s gun defensive recruit Aliir Aliir could find himself taking on one of the toughest Crows: Taylor Walker.
Port captain and key defender Tom Jonas speculated during the week that the role of containing Adelaide’s resurgent high-marking forward could be a team effort, instead of a one-man task.
“If you look over the year so far, there haven’t been a whole lot of specific match-ups (for the Power defenders), we’ve been sharing them around, so whether we go that way, or we look to combat Tex, who’s in some pretty good form, I’m not sure,” Jonas said.
“He always gets a fair bit of respect.
“Tex has been a good player for a long time and he’s in a rich vein of form at the moment, so he’ll certainly be one we’ll have a bit of focus on, but at the same time, there’s plenty of other threats in their forward line.”
Walker has 27 goals to his name from seven games, almost doubling the 15 goals he kicked across 14 games in 2020.
In Adelaide’s three wins this season, Walker’s kicked bags of five, six and three.
Aliir could well be given the task on Walker in Saturday night’s Showdown 49, particularly after his performance in Port’s otherwise disappointing 49-point loss to Brisbane where he had eight marks and 10 contested possessions.
Despite injuries to quick ball-getters Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma, Jonas said he was confident Port had the squad depth to cover the key outs, with veteran midfielder Travis Boak expected to make a return resting his sore quad.
“There were certainly some strong performances at SANFL level and blokes that put their hands up, so I’m sure (Hinkley and the selection committee will) make the right call and we’ll get the right mixture of players for the weekend,” Jonas said.
Port’s SANFL team had a commanding 10-goal win over reigning premiers Woodville-West Torrens last weekend, with a number of players impressing selectors.
Among them, defender Riley Bonner, who hasn’t played at AFL level since injuring his hamstring in Round 1.
Bonner kicked a goal and had 24 touches in his return from injury for the Magpies, which would have pleased coaches.
Fellow backman Jarrod Lienert hasn’t played in Power colours so far in 2021, but would be getting closer to selection after he was a travelling emergency for the Power against Brisbane last weekend and returned to Adelaide on the morning of the Magpies match on Sunday and went on to impress with 27 touches and 10 marks.
Port will unveil its Showdown 49 squad on Friday night.
SLOANE INJURY UPDATE, BACKLINE RESHUFFLE LOOMS
– Matt Turner
Adelaide captain Rory Sloane needs only to get through Friday’s light training and receive clearance from a club doctor to return for Showdown 49.
Sloane, who missed the past four games while recovering from eye surgery, completed Thursday’s main session at West Lakes unscathed to push his case for Saturday night’s clash with Port Adelaide.
He took part in all the running, ball movement and tackling drills, copping contact and was not hindered.
There was nothing to suggest he would not play and his comeback was approved by a specialist on Wednesday.
But there is one more box to tick – an endorsement from the club after the Crows’ “captain’s run” at Adelaide Oval on Friday.
“I’m feeling pretty fit and healthy,” Sloane, who rejoined main training last week, told FIVEaa on Wednesday night.
“(The specialist appointment) went really well, he was really happy with it.”
Sloane’s comeback would boost an Adelaide midfield that struggled in the 67-point home loss to GWS on Saturday.
The Crows were smashed 41-17 in clearances, 135-116 in contested possessions and 60-43 in tackles.
Adelaide boasts an inexperienced on-ball brigade without Sloane and Matt Crouch, who is one to two weeks away from being available from groin soreness.
Luke Brown (achilles) and Will Hamill (ankle) are also in the frame to return after missing Saturday’s loss to the Giants.
They were in a group that endured running drills before getting through the main session without concerns.
Asked at one stage by Crows rehabilitation co-ordinator Tim Parham how he was going, Hamill said: “feeling good”.
Hamill injured his ankle against Hawthorn in Round 6.
If Brown, Hamill or both come into the side, another defensive reshuffle looms.
Adelaide might opt to play Jordon Butts, Tom Doedee and Jake Kelly as its three key backmen and drop two-gamer Nick Murray.
Charlie Dixon, Mitch Georgiades and Todd Marshall have been the Power’s tall forwards in its past three games.
While Sloane, Brown and Hamill are a chance to return from injury, Darcy Fogarty is in the selection mix on form.
After dropping out of the 22 to be an unused medical substitute against the Giants, Fogarty was among the best in the Crows’ one-point SANFL loss to Sturt on Sunday.
The forward turned midfielder registered 18 disposals, seven clearances and seven inside 50s.
Tom Lynch has been ruled out of the Showdown with toe soreness.
INSIDE RAMSGATE: ‘IT WAS A RIDGY-DIDGE 20-MAN BRAWL’
— Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Football is almost always about timing.
And if there’s one positive from the infamous “Ramsgate” brawl it was the year — 2002.
Because former Crows football boss John Reid shudders to think what would happen if such a brawl between Power and Crows players broke out now – in 2021, an era saturated by mobile phone footage on social media.
“I’m just glad it didn’t happen in the current times … it would have been even bigger,” Reid told The Advertiser.
“At the time it happened and it was over, there was plenty of talk about it but it wasn’t like it was the third World War.
“But it does indicate and I think it gives you an idea that it is a genuine rivalry, there is nothing manufactured about it.”
To understand why Crows and Power players decided to throw down on that Sunday night at the Henley Beach watering hole, a day after the April 27th Showdown, you have to consider a number of factors at play.
Port Adelaide had won the past four Showdowns and was beginning to claim it had the wood on its cross-town rivals.
“Port were beating us badly and we were sick of it,” former Crows captain Mark Ricciuto told the Crows Show in 2017.
As the two teams locked horns, so, too, did Josh Carr and Ricciuto.
The match was tight and the Port Adelaide tagger’s ability to restrict the Crows champion to six kicks and eight handballs was a significant factor in the Power’s eight-point win.
It didn’t sit well with the Crows or Ricciuto and when they were out the following night celebrating Simon Goodwin’s 100th game and came face-to-face with Port contingent, who were also drinking, it wasn’t surprising that tempers flared.
“I think it was just sparked that Roo and Carr were there,” Reid said.
“There was always a battle on field and they just happened to be in the same place and there was a battle off-field,” Reid said.
“And their players supported them and they ended up in … I’ll call it a melee more than a fight.”
SHOWDOWN 49: ALL THE LATEST NEWS IN THE BUILD UP TO SATURDAY
But was it more than a melee?
At the Ramsgate that night, in addition to waring groups of AFL players, were a bunch of budding Australian cricketers housed at the Australian Institute of Sport’s Del Monte facility at Henley Beach.
One of those cricketers who witnessed the brawl was Australian One Day and T20 representative and Tasmanian pace bowler Brett Geeves.
Reid may say it was a “melee”. Geeves says it was “one of the most outrageous pub fights” that he had ever seen.
“We had been to the Showdown the night before and it was the usual Showdown of the era full of spite and yeah one of the teams were there first, it may have been Port Adelaide having a beer and some of the Adelaide guys started to roll through,” he said.
“And it just started to kick off, you could sense as that second team came through there was a real tension in the air and it just turned into one of the most outrageous pub fights that I have ever seen.
“When you have powerhouse athletes going at it, it was a pretty impressive display.”
The first wind the Adelaide public got of just what had happened was when an anonymous caller rang a radio station saying it was “on for young and old” with at least 10 members of each team “throwing punches, there were blokes being thrown on cars”.
Geeves said that was the case.
“It was on,” he said.
“There were more punches than you have ever seen, people being thrown over cars.
“It was proper, it was a ridgy-didge 20-man brawl.”
‘We thought he was dead’
Last year Kane Cornes told the AFL’s website that his brother Chad and some of his Power teammates were talking to Adelaide midfielder Kane Johnson — who Chad knew from his time at Glenelg.
Ricciuto was said to have come over and joined the conversation and it “was reasonably friendly and there was some banter”.
Eventually it escalated to Ricciuto asking Carr if he would join him outside the establishment “to have a chat”.
“Yeah Roo wanted to talk to me outside so I thought. ‘what’s this about’,” Carr said on the Crows Show in 2017.
“He didn’t like probably some of the things I said to him on game day, I was just a young buck trying to find my way and it didn’t really matter who it was I had a fair bit to say.”
Interestingly, in 2012 it emerged that Carr had been punched in the brawl but not by Ricciuto — it was by Goodwin.
Geeves said his memory of the brawl was of Ricciuto flinging Carr into a pole outside the hotel.
“I just remember his physique was just like nothing that I have ever seen,” Geeves said.
“We were skinny 18-year-old kids who thought that we were professional athletes and here was this guy that was as ripped and big as anyone I’ve ever seen.
“And he was doing some damage, from memory him and Josh Carr ended up outside and he flung Carr into a pole and it was nasty.
“We were fearful that someone was going to be properly hurt.
“Honestly the pace in which he hit this pole after Ricciuto threw him we thought he was dead, I thought he was goneski.”
The remarkable fallout
Amazingly, given it was 20 players brawling for about 30 minutes in a public area no player was suspended or even fined for the incident.
“It was remarkable and for the size of the fight and the amount of people involved and to be exclusively from the two footy teams we were expecting massive suspensions and fines to come from it but it was really well managed by both footy clubs,” Geeves said.
In fact, Ricciuto told Triple M in 2017 that the club got a call from an irate fan for a particular reason following the brawl.
“One of the funniest things was we had a supporter ring up the club on the Monday or Tuesday after the blue,” he said.
“They said, ‘look I don’t care that the captains leading the players astray, I don’t care that we’ve lost the Showdown, but I’ve got a bloody Mercedes with a dent in the bonnet and all I want is it to be fixed’.”
Reid said he was confident something similar wouldn’t happen again in today’s game.
“I’m very confident that behaviour wouldn’t happen in the current climate, players are better versed at what is allowed off-field,” he said.
“The AFL would have gone really hard against them and the clubs.”
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