The Lowdown: Ben Keays in form ahead of game 150 – six years after almost joining Box Hill Hawks
The hardworking Crow approaching another milestone after almost joining the Hawks six years ago, a Port first for 2025 and a strange fixturing call in round 13’s likes and dislikes.
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It was a terrific weekend if you are a supporter of one of the South Australian clubs as the Power and Crows pulled of gritty wins.
Adelaide just held on to down premiership contender Brisbane by five points on Friday night, while Port Adelaide went to Canberra and took care of GWS.
Matt Turner names his likes and dislikes from the round here.
LIKES
1. EX-LION MASSIVE AGAINST OLD SIDE
Ben Keays was a Brisbane Lions tragic growing up but a fringe player at his boyhood club.
On Friday night, he was arguably best on ground against his former side, helping to propel Adelaide to its most significant win since the 2017 preliminary final.
The fantastic story of Keays’s rise from 30-game Brisbane discard to consistent Crow continues to add new chapters.
First, he became an AFL regular as a midfielder at West Lakes in 2020, then a best-and-fairest runner-up in 2021, a member of Adelaide’s leadership group from 2022, then a joint Malcolm Blight Medallist as a forward last season.
Now, the 28-year-old is playing a vital role in the club’s pursuit of a top-four spot.
Keays backed up his three-goal haul in the away win over Sydney with another three on Friday night.
Two of them came during the last term as the Crows surged from 17 points down at three-quarter time to prevail.
Before that, he blanketed Dayne Zorko, restricting the dangerous Lions half-back to eight touches during the first half.
Keays, a terrific two-way runner, has ranked first or second for distance covered in four of Adelaide’s past eight games and top five in three others.
Coach Matthew Nicks has called him a driver of Adelaide’s culture and the ultimate teammate.
Captain Jordan Dawson told Fox Footy the way Keays prepared for games and looked after himself was the best he had seen in his decade in the league.
“He’s someone I look up to,” Dawson said post-game on Friday night.
“We’re the same age and as a leader of the club, he’s someone I really admire and ask advice off.
“He’s so diligent with his role … and has made it his own.
“I love the way he goes about it and the energy he brings to the group.”
This week against Hawthorn will be game 150 for Keays, a very deserved milestone for the much-loved workhorse.
The match-up is fitting given Keays almost became a Hawk – he had signed to play in the VFL with Box Hill in 2020 – before Adelaide recruited him as a delisted free agent.
“It was a pretty welcome surprise,” Keays said after joining the Crows in 2019.
So too is what he has done in six seasons in the tricolours.
2. CLOSE GAME WHEEL STARTING TO TURN
Two knocks on the Crows have been an inability to beat the best teams or win tight matches.
The five-point win over Brisbane would give Adelaide plenty of belief that those issues might be behind it.
It was 7-1-17 under Nicks in games decided by six points or fewer going into this season.
They are now 2-1 for the year after beating the Lions and Port Adelaide (five points), and losing to Gold Coast (one).
At three-quarter time, Friday night’s match looked like it was going down a similar path to the past few years of close but not quite for the Crows.
Lessons from previous narrow losses and a bit of luck helped ensure that this time was different.
“Don’t underestimate what the Adelaide Football Club can take out of this win and how much that’s going to hold them in good stead as we run towards September,” Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy.
“For the last 15 minutes, the ball was sitting in Brisbane’s forward 50 and they walk away saying ‘we stuck firm, we hung in there … we didn’t lose our focus’.
“Now they will have belief they can win in any situation.
“That is a monster win for the mindset for this footy club.”
3. PORT’S MUCH-NEEDED GRIT
It was not pretty – probably unsurprising for a winter’s night in Canberra – but it did not need to be for the Power.
Port simply needed to win to give itself any chance of making a top-eight challenge this season and it was able to scrap home against by 16 points against the Giants.
The Power’s resilience and spirit have been questioned at times this season.
Collingwood great Nathan Buckley wrote last week that Port had “capitulated” too often this year, “impacting on team connection and trust”.
His comments referenced the Power losing second halves by seven, 10 and 11 goals during its four-game winless streak.
Rather than capitulating after half-time on Saturday night, Port hung tough in difficult conditions on the road, off the bye, against a top-eight side in the nation’s capital.
The Power outscored the Giants 4.5 to 1.4 during the last two terms, including 3.1 to 1.4 in the final quarter.
Remarkably, that was Port’s first last-quarter win of the season.
And the Power did it while playing three key defenders for the first time all year after the return from injury of Esava Ratugolea.
Ratugolea, who finished last campaign as a makeshift forward, was the pick of the trio, earning praise from coach Ken Hinkley.
“He’s had a really strong season and fought back really well,” Hinkley said post-game.
Port certainly will not be getting carried away with one win but its upcoming fixture helps its chances of making something of this year.
The Power has home games against four bottom-10 sides (Melbourne, Sydney, Carlton and West Coast) to come over the next five weeks.
James Peatling has been handed a one-match suspension for this incident involving Lachie Neale.
— AFL (@AFL) June 7, 2025
Details: https://t.co/5t5eqOxZ52pic.twitter.com/UgvdRquCPh
DISLIKES
1. PEATLING’S SUSPENSION
The former Giant has brought a hard edge to the Crows’ midfield and been impressive at his new club.
But he needs to be more cautious with his tackling after receiving a second suspension in eight weeks.
First, it was for a dangerous tackle on Geelong’s Oisin Mullin during Gather Round, then for a similar incident with Brisbane star Lachie Neale on Friday night.
Both times Peatling dumped them into the ground and copped a one-game ban.
Given Adelaide faces another tough test against Hawthorn in Launceston on Friday night, he will be missed.
THE LOWDOWN ON …
Whoever thought scheduling a night game in Canberra in the middle of winter was wise should consider scrapping that idea.
A mere 9005 attended the Power-Giants clash – the lowest Manuka Oval crowd in three years.
Footy is a winter sport and you can get bad weather at any part of the day, but a night match in Canbera in June with the temperature hovering around or below 5C is not conducive to strong crowds or quality football.
“It’s an interesting timeslot, isn’t it, 7.35pm in Canberra in winter,” Hinkley said.
“There’s some strange times we put together, I reckon.”
Four of the past six Canberra matches have been played in April.
The other two were in July or August but started at 1.10pm.
AFL officials are determined for a new Hobart stadium to have a roof partly because of chilly Tasmanian weather, but the league also schedules a night match in winter in Australia’s coldest capital city.
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