AFL Round 23 Port Adelaide v Adelaide: All the news, action and fallout from the Showdown
Tom Jonas caused a storm in the lead-up to the Showdown after labelling Adelaide entitled and arrogant. The Power captain has made a concession amid Robbie Gray’s final game.
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Sitting in Port Adelaide’s change rooms after its season-ending Showdown win on Saturday night, Power captain Tom Jonas reflected on a campaign that felt a little familiar.
And on how the club’s hunger in games had dipped at times this year – but was now back.
Asked about what went wrong in 2022, Jonas said there were a combination of factors, including “a little bit of stiff luck with injuries, form and some close losses early on”.
“Ultimately, we didn’t have that fire in the belly that you probably need at this level for long enough,” Jonas told News Corp.
“We were able to do it in patches but we weren’t able to close out games.
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“We saw a similar thing after the prelim (loss) against Hawthorn in 2014 – sometimes you think it’s just going to happen again.
“This is an incredibly tough competition where it only takes a small decline to see you on the wrong end of the results.”
The 56-point win over Adelaide ensured the Power finished with a 10-12 record and in 11th spot.
It is a significant drop from consecutive preliminary finals the previous two seasons.
“I think the last two years have taken a lot of resilience, a lot of energy and at 0-5 (to start this season) we didn’t give up, but it took a lot,” Jonas said.
“It’s given us back that real hunger that we’re going to need to get back where we want to be next year.”
The Power has its sights set on winning a premiership.
This year the club will be watching the finals at home after its worst finish on the ladder since 2012, the season before coach Ken Hinkley’s arrival.
The retirement of club great Robbie Gray could be seen as signalling the end of an era but Jonas was convinced its flag window remained open.
“I’ve still got incredible faith in our list and I think it was on full display tonight,” he said.
“(Connor) Rozee, (Todd) Marshall, (Zak) Butters, (Xavier) Duursma, (Mitch) Georgiades, (Kane) Farrell down back, (Jase) Burgoyne – the club is in great shape.
“I can feel the hunger.”
Jonas also spoke with News Corp immediately after the Power’s last match of the past two seasons.
Following the six-point preliminary final loss to Richmond in 2020, a shattered Jonas was adamant the club could contend again the next year because of “a more selfless group, a more rounded group … (and) a great balance of youth and experience”.
He was proved right, as the Power returned to the same stage the following season.
But its preliminary final exit last year was far tougher to swallow, a 71-point hiding at home by the Western Bulldogs.
Again, Jonas felt the club had “all the right pieces” to be a flag threat.
This time, he was wrong.
Jonas was disappointed with this season and that it was ending now, but proud about Saturday night.
“The way they sent off a champion and finished the year was something we can really hold our heads high about,” he said.
“It also gives us a great platform going into 2023.
“We’re already thinking about that.”
Jonas made headlines this week when he called the Crows “entitled and arrogant” – comments that Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks thought took away from celebrating Gray’s career.
The Power skipper conceded the fallout “got a little bit out of hand” and thought Nicks’s response was classy.
“But I think the pure magnitude of the event still meant it was still all about Robbie Gray,” he said.
“All Robbie wanted today was a win.
“All of the noise throughout the week was drowned out by the greatness of Robbie Gray.
“That was our focus internally, celebrating an absolute champion and what he’s given to this club, the supporters, the AFL and just to the sport.”
Gray probably would have liked that the attention during the lead-up was taken away from him, given his humility.
Jonas said “there was almost too much Robbie Gray for Robbie Gray” before the game and agreed the 34-year-old was the type of person who might have preferred to retire post-season without fanfare.
“But whether you like it or not, you deserve to be celebrated for what you’ve given to the club and the game and I think the club did a marvellous job,” he said.
The Power is going to have to find a way to have a deep finals run without the champion winning games off his own boot for it next year.
Gray, Power put on one last show in fitting farewell
Port Adelaide’s great entertainer put on one last show on Saturday night.
Robbie Gray, in his farewell match, lit up Adelaide Oval with his typical class and smarts in a 56-point Showdown win that proved a fitting send-off.
The 34-year-old, who announced his retirement on Tuesday, had his fingerprints all over much of what the Power did well against the Crows, particularly in the first three terms.
Gray finished with two goals, 13 disposals and eight score involvements.
The match finished with him being given a guard of honour by both clubs to the David Bowie hit “Heroes”, then walking across the ground to acknowledge the 50,090 crowd, chants of “Robbie, Robbie” from an emotional Power home crowd.
All after a long hug with great mate Travis Boak shortly after the final siren.
Boak and Ollie Wines later chaired him off the field to rapturous applause.
During the game, there had been shades of the vintage Gray that had been a four-time All-Australian, triple John Cahill Medallist and 2014 AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year.
The forward/midfielder also had some moments that did not go to the fairytale script.
But they took nothing away from the celebration for a player many would consider the Power’s best ever.
Softly-spoken Gray had shunned the limelight for all of his 16-year career, but the night was all about him.
Fellow club greats Gavin Wanganeen, Matthew Primus, Kane Cornes, Dom Cassisi, Brendon Lade and Dean Brogan were in the rooms pre-game to farewell Gray.
Down there, Gray kicked the footy with his three children and warmed up by jostling with Boak, a fellow 2006 draftee.
The basketball fan’s black footy boots on the night featured 271 – the number of games he would finish on – and the “Jumpman” logo of NBA legend Michael Jordan.
On the ground, Gray highlights played on the big screens before the teams emerged.
A replica of his No.9 jumper was raised at the northern end at the back of the hill in front of the Moreton Bay figs.
That tribute that showed the esteem he was held by the club, given it was done for club legend Russell Ebert at the home game versus Hawthorn after his death.
Gray then led the team onto the ground, where he greeted his wife, Annabel, with a kiss.
The Power champion then carried his two girls, Willow and Clementine, alongside son Aston, through a banner that read “The Graytest – thank you Robbie”.
Then came the match and it looked like the perfect start for Gray when he claimed a mark about 30m from goal, 90 seconds into the game.
But the umpire did not read the script, calling play on.
As Crows players charged towards him, Gray had the poise to handball to Connor Rozee, who passed to Todd Marshall and he kicked the game’s opening major.
His only two touches in the first quarter – both handballs – led to goals.
Gray’s first kick was a shanked pass inside 50.
His second was a set-shot goal from a tight angle at the southern end that was reminiscent of his after-the-siren winner against Carlton at the Gabba in 2020.
The crowd went wild and every teammate rushed to celebrate with him.
His second goal came from outbodying fifth-gamer Josh Worrell in the northeastern pocket then slotting a neat left-foot snap.
This one was similar to his fourth major in his game-changing third quarter of the 2014 semi-final against Fremantle.
Gray, who was managed ahead of last week’s away win against Essendon, started the first two quarters in the midfield but played mostly as the Power’s deepest forward.
Late in the game, when a win was secured, Port Adelaide teammates kept trying to feed him for one last goal.
But when he finally marked the ball, 55m out, under the southeastern scoreboard, the team-first champion did not try to add one last highlight to his stunning reel.
The 55th pick in the 2006 draft kicked short to Marshall, who gave him another goal assist.
Earlier, he had assisted Xavier Duursma and Karl Amon majors.
Gray also paved the way for a Jed McEntee goal by pushing Jordan Dawson out of the way.
“That was so clever by Robbie Gray there,” Fox Footy’s Dermott Brereton said.
How often has that been said of Gray during his career?
Gray missed two simple shots – one after Boak passed to him, the other from a pack mark.
The retiring star also botched a pair of opportunistic chances that he might have kicked in his younger years.
He pick-pocketed a Nick Murray handball, weaved through traffic, but then his left-foot snap fell short and was marked by Chayce Jones.
The other came when he bumped Worrell, only to drop the mark and snap out on the full.
Gray had a few nearly moments late – a sixth Showdown Medal for the record holder was not coming.
He conceded he was emotional as the siren sounded.
“It was a big week, a big build-up and we were able to come out and perform,” he told Fox Footy.
“I’m probably a little bit emotional in the last couple of minutes realising it’s coming to the end.
“This was always a good one to finish off on.”
It was not the season Port Adelaide wanted but it could not have sent Gray out any better in the circumstances.
Robbie Gray slots one in his final AFL game!#AFLPowerCrowspic.twitter.com/aHl09tyVBH
— AFL (@AFL) August 20, 2022
Match report: Power stars walk the walk
- Jason Phelan, Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Port Adelaide’s players talked the talk in a spicy lead up to Saturday night’s much-anticipated Showdown and they walked the walk in an emphatic 56-point win to farewell retiring great Robbie Gray.
Connor Rozee capped a superb season with 34 possessions and a goal earning him his first Showdown Medal as the best player on the ground in the 16.15 (111) to 7.13 (55) victory in front of 50,090 fans at Adelaide Oval.
Rozee paid tribute to Gray as he accepted the medal.
“To one of my friends Robbie Gray, we love you mate,” he said.
Ollie Wines, Tom Jonas and Chad Cornes were among the key Power figures to light the fuse in the lead-in to Showdown 52, with words like ‘hate’, ‘arrogant’ and ‘entitled’ flung Adelaide’s way.
The barbs set the scene for a potentially spiteful encounter between the cross-town rivals, and while that didn’t eventuate, the first half was played with a finals-like intensity.
The Crows trailed by just seven points at halftime, but couldn’t go with the Power who broke the game open with a four-goals-to-one third quarter.
Zak Butters, Karl Amon and Wines also saw plenty of the ball, while Todd Marshall booted four goals and Gray two in the impressive display that improved Port’s win-loss record this season to 10-12 and edged their Showdown advantage to 27-25.
Reilly O’Brien dominated the ruck with 50 hitouts, with Rory Laird, Jordan Dawson and Darcy Fogarty (three goals) also prominent.
But it was a disappointing night for Matthew Nicks’ men who conceded a seven-goals-to-two final term to finish the season with an 8-14 record.
#THEGRAYTEST
Gray was quiet early in his 271st and final game, with just two possessions in the first quarter, but he had a hand in Xavier Duursma’s impressive snapped goal that helped his side to a one-point lead at the first break.
The five-time Showdown Medal winner got more involved in the second and gave his adoring fans the goal they craved 10 minutes in.
Gray’s pinpoint set shot from just inside 50m out near the boundary was greeted by thunderous applause, with every teammate on the ground running to the 34-year-old.
Marshall booted his 100th AFL goal as Port edged to a 13-point lead, but back-to-back goals to Fogarty helped cut the margin to seven points at halftime.
Playing in just his fifth career match, Josh Worrell was set the imposing task of quelling Gray.
The young Crow gave a good account of himself in the first half, but the veteran got the better of him in a marking contest deep in a pocket to kick his second major, and the first of the second half, shortly after the restart.
One of the greatest to pull on the @PAFC jumper.
— AFL (@AFL) August 20, 2022
Congratulations on a stellar career, Robbie ðŸ‘
🎥: @FOXFOOTY#AFLPowerCrowspic.twitter.com/NFGpGTUgne
ADIOS, AMON?
If, as is widely expected, Amon departs the club via free agency in the off-season his farewell match was a beauty.
The 27-year-old had 19 disposals and five inside 50s to halftime and was pivotal as the Power made its move in the third.
Gray turned provider again with a slick handball that allowed Amon to stroke home a trademark long-range goal.
It was the fourth in a game-breaking run of five unanswered goals that blew the margin out to 28 points at three-quarter time.
Scoreboard
POWER 2.4 5.7 9.13 16.15 (111)
CROWS 2.3 4.6 5.9 7.13 (55)
PHELAN’S BEST POWER: Rozee, Wines, Butters, Aliir, Amon, Duursma, Farrell. CROWS: O’Brien, Laird, Dawson, Fogarty, Berry.
GOALS POWER: Marshall 4, Duursma 2, Gray 2, McEntee 2, Amon, Rozee, Wines, Butters, Powell-Pepper, Georgiades. CROWS: Fogarty 3, Walker, Berry, Laird, O’Brien.
INJURIES POWER: Georgiades (ankle). CROWS: Hinge (calf).
UMPIRES: Donlon, Haussen, Broadbent
ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Rozee (Port)
2 Wines (Port)
1 O’Brien (Adel)
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Originally published as AFL Round 23 Port Adelaide v Adelaide: All the news, action and fallout from the Showdown
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