Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak and injured Crows skipper Nathan van Berlo with the Showdown trophy. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: News Corp Australia
BROWNLOW Medallist Gavin Wanganeen uses one line to capture all a Showdown means to a Crows or Power player, in particular those at Port Adelaide.
"It's kill or be killed," says Wanganeen, the inaugural Power captain who missed Showdown I by suspension.
"It's the day a player shows if he is prepared to die for his club's jumper."
It seems extreme, but this is the game that not only divides a state but defines a player's reputation.
And after 36 Showdowns at Football Park since 1997 - where bragging rights were shared on a 19-16 split in the Power's favour - a piece of history is on the line tomorrow.
Port claimed the first Showdown.
Adelaide won the first Showdown final ... and now there is the first Showdown at Adelaide Oval.
Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows will meet in round two of the AFL season with their eyes firmly on the road ahead, but with a quick nod to the past, it's easy to see why this fixture has become one of the most intense in the competition.
The script has been in the writing for as long as the builders have spent transforming the Oval in the past two years into a venue that stands as one of the nation's finest if not the best in the AFL.
"And the Showdown rivalry," says Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson, "is as big as there is in AFL football. What a game to open the new Adelaide Oval ..."
Port hosts this derby with winning form, albeit built on a p oor start and big finish against Carlton.
Power coach Ken Hinkley leaned on that strong close to emphasise his team will seek to out-run any opponent, particularly on the Oval's fast deck.
Adelaide plays off a 38-point away loss to Geelong that Sanderson says was strong for endeavour - and delivered invaluable reminders of the changes the Crows need to make to win a derby: Contested ball and tackling.
"You don't have to win contested ball as long as you are tackling - and we didn't do either," Sanderson said.
"So there is plenty to work with."
WHO'S RUNNING HOT
Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson chats with his star, Patrick Dangerfield. Picture: George Salpigtidis. Source: News Corp Australia
CROWS
SAM JACOBS
ADELAIDE'S No. 1 ruckman has reclaimed the simple theme of dominating the rucks and letting leadership follow from his example on the field. Jacobs can expect his Power opponents to seek to crash into his body as often as possible.
PATRICK DANGERFIELD
CLEARLY Adelaide's best player - as recognised by opposition teams that set their best taggers on the line-breaking, hard-running midfielder. This week's question - after the agenda has been "protecting" Dangerfield - is how the umpires will watch Dangerfield's opponent.
RORY SLOANE
VERY much the soul of the Adelaide line-up. Steps up in the Crows midfield whenever the team is challenged - and pushes this advantage whenever Patrick Dangerfield is being locked down. It is an example many other Crows need to follow.
Power's Justin Westhoff is always hard to match-up on. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: News Corp Australia
POWER
JUSTIN WESTHOFF
TURNED the game for Port Adelaide in the season-opener against Carlton with a stunning four-goal second term loaded with contested marks and perfect kicking as a key forward. Also can pinch-hit in ruck and be an effective sweeper in defence.
JARED POLEC
HAS emerged as a game-breaker with his speed on the wing since starting his Port Adelaide chapter after leaving Brisbane in September. Also redefined his reputation as a ball-winner - rather than receiver.
OLLIE WINES
NO second-year blues for the bull in the Port Adelaide midfield rotations. Defines all coach Ken Hinkley admires from his players, particularly his appetite for contested football.
WHO'S CHALLENGED
Crows big man Shaun McKernan has find consistency in his game. Picture: Colleen Petch. Source: News Corp Australia
CROWS
SHAUN McKERNAN
HAS to back-up Sam Jacobs in ruck - and prove his worth as a key forward who stretches the Port Adelaide defence. Consistency still challenges McKernan who is living on the edge with a one-year contract and no suitor elsewhere.
JAMES PODSIADLY
UNLUCKY with injury in his first premiership game for the Crows. If Adelaide Oval is very much like his former home at Kardinia Park - long and narrow - then Podsiadly could prove a major player in this derby.
POWER
JOHN BUTCHER
KEN Hinkley's line: "You are always walking on a twig with Butch" sums up the gamble the Power takes every week with its young key forward. As long as he competes - demanding a prime defender - opportunities open up for Justin Westhoff and Jay Schulz.
JASPER PITTARD
FULL of energy and gravado, the Port Adelaide defender will never die guessing ... but he will test his coaches' (and supporters') hearts. Will be encouraged to take risks, but has to measure them with greater precision.
Crows defender Brodie Smith is likely to get the job of stopping Chad Wingard. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: News Limited
KEY MATCH-UPS
JUSTIN WESTHOFF v DANIEL TALIA
SUPER duel. Justin Westhoff as the far-roaming, strong-marking key forward. Daniel Talia as the strongly disciplined, close-checking key defender. Whoever wins this match-up, sets up his team for a Showdown victory that enters the history books.
EDDIE BETTS v TOM JONAS
AFTER a five-goal return in his first game for Adelaide - against Port Adelaide in the summer Showdown at Richmond Oval last month - Carlton recruit Eddie Betts revealed just how damaging he can be as a finisher of plays and in assisting his team-mates. He will get far more attention in the real derby with Tom Jonas most suited to suffocating Betts.
CHAD WINGARD v BRODIE SMITH
THIS is the most-intriguing match-up of the game. Does Adelaide opt for the hard shadow on Chad Wingard with Sam Kerridge following the All-Australian from the Power's attack to midfield rotations - or does Crows coach Brenton Sanderson test Wingard's defensive game by having him be accountable for Brodie Smith when he sets up Adelaide's exit plays from half-back or running to the wing?
HOME-GROUND ADVANTAGE
PORT ADELAIDE has a 1-0 record at the Oval - the old Oval - from its win against Melbourne at the end of the 2011 home-and-away season when the bulldozers were still seven months away from starting the redevelopment. The Crows have a 2-1 advantage for major training sessions on the new Oval.
Neither side has a true handle on how the ground will reveal its true character, particularly when players kick for goal or kick-in from behinds, or how the city's prevailing south-westerly wind will come off the new southern grandstand.
But it is clear the ground will favour hard-running teams. On this factor, advantage: Port Adelaide.
Crows coach Brenton Sanderson says the Showdown rivalry as is as big as it gets in AFL. Picture: Michael Dodge. Source: Getty Images
SANDERSON'S TEST
CROWS coach Brenton Sanderson has three major challenges:
CLEARING away the major issues from 2013 that resurfaced against Geelong last week - tackling, efficiency inside-50, fade-outs in critical periods of the game and finding the right match-ups of playmakers, either in the midfield or of the sweeper in Port Adelaide's eight-man defence.
DECIDING to persist with a zone defence - and having Power opportunist forwards Chad Wingard and Angus Monfries bite as they did in the last Showdown - or opt for a hard-lock, man-on-man derby.
BLOCKING any negative vibes his players have from last year's two losses in the Showdowns in which Adelaide gave up significant leads - and the mind games started by Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley to suggest his players can out-run any opponent.
Power coach Ken Hinkley has never lost a Showdown. Picture: Michael Dodge. Source: Getty Images
HINKLEY'S TEST
POWER coach Ken Hinkley has three major challenges:
ENSURING the Port Adelaide players - who have been eager to play this derby since the Crows tried to dress themselves in the State jumper for this derby - hold their composure. Without calm heads, the Power's risky plays - the "brave football" Hinkley demands - would become damaging turnovers on a fast ground that punishes mistakes.
FINDING strategies that allow Port Adelaide to emphasise its advantage in speed - real speed. This requires Hinkley - and his midfield tactician Phil Walsh - to keep the Power winning the advantage in clearances and contested possessions and minimising turnovers.
PROVING the bad starts - that were a feature of the Power's pre-season and season-opener against Carlton - are just a phase rather than a fault in his players' mindset. Playing catch-up football is the toughest challenge in football - and the Power cannot keep pushing its luck.
VERDICT
PORT ADELAIDE. 17 points.
SO much - in particular the new venue - makes this Showdown difficult to read. The Power appears in better form, although Adelaide's competitive spirit against Geelong at Geelong should not be under-estimated.
Key difference in the sides is that major debating point: Which team has the stronger and deeper midfield? Advantage Power.
