This has been perhaps the most normal, average, boring build up to a Showdown in recent memory. Because while one team is storming towards a top two finish, the other already knows its fate, and is playing out the season is a long goodbye to its longest serving coach. Try as they might, media outlets in South Australia are doing their best to drum up widespread interest in a game that is threatening to turn into a one-sided affair. But they needn’t have worried. This is still a Showdown, and under the bright lights of Adelaide Oval on a gloomy Saturday night, the Power and the Crows renewed their long-time hostilities, one side determined to prove they belong in premiership contention, the other wanting to send their longest serving coach off in the right way.
Showdown 58. Here’s what happened.
THE BACK STORY
After six seasons without featuring in September football, many Crows supporters would’ve been happy if season 2025 ended with their team simply making it as far as finals, and maybe winning one along the way. But as the season grew, so did Adelaide’s expectations. Since Round 9, the last Showdown, the Crows have become one of the in-form teams of the competition.
They went from being a chance to make the top four, to being firmly inside the top four looking towards clinching a home final, and now that Collingwood has had a couple of stumbles, Adelaide is a very real chance to storm into premiership favouritism thanks to the minor premiership. Their scoring power is undeniable, their underrated defence is rock solid, and their midfield has all the tools to match it with the best in the league. But the Crows are still underrated by some in the media, perhaps due to their inexperience in September, and their location (i.e. not being in Victoria) makes them out of sight, out of mind. A commanding victory here would solidify their position inside the top two and go a long way to securing the Crows a home qualifying final, a sentence that seemed so unlikely at the start of the season.
But it’s a very different story at Alberton. After essentially allowing Ken Hinkley one last crack at reaching football’s pinnacle, from that perspective, this season has been nothing short of a disaster. Every time Port Adelaide loses, Hinkley’s position is called into question, as Josh Carr lurks in the background. But while Hinkley has previously been able to squeeze every last drop from a consistently overachieving list, this year it simply hasn’t panned out that way, and this team is performing much closer to, or even below, expectations.
But while their season is basically over, Connor Rozee and his men might have one more “emotional get-up” in them. Because, and especially in the Ken Hinkley era, this is a team that runs on emotion over talent, and every time you think they’re down, they find something extra special. Rozee is back very early from a finger injury, and I suspect that had this game not been Ken’s last Showdown, he would’ve sat out another week. This tells me that the Power are still firmly behind their man, and would love nothing more than to not only dent their rival’s premiership credentials, but give their longest serving coach one last excuse for cross-town bragging rights.
THE GAME
In one of the most bizarre openings to a Showdown you’ll ever see, Miles Bergman sharked the ruck tap from Reilly O’Brien, only to send the ball 60 metres in the wrong direction, the subsequent kick landing right in Darcy Fogarty’s arms. Even more bizarrely, Fogarty missed his set shot, but after that mind-boggling opening 30 seconds, normal programming resumed. Conditions made clean football a tough ask, and the zephyr of wind heading south favoured the Power early.
But the Crows had come to play, dominating the inside 50’s, and not allowing Port any time or space with ball in hand. Adelaide themselves weren’t as clean as they would’ve wanted, but after missing their first four shots at goal, recruit Alex Neal-Bullen got his team going with a skidding dribble kick from a stoppage.
The weather eased, and from there it was a procession from the Crows. Destroying the Power in every stat, Adelaide should’ve put themselves further in front, but they couldn’t land enough killer blows. An excellent defensive spoil from Nick Murray, followed by a deft touch from Taylor Walker, and Adelaide enjoyed a healthy 23 point advantage through Sam Berry, kicking perhaps the best goal of his career from outside forward 50. Port were playing right into Adelaide’s hands with boring, predictable football, and they needed to get something, anything going.
Once time on arrived, so did the Power. They corrected their pressure, nullified the contested possession count, and got themselves back into the contest on the scoreboard, kicking the last three goals of the quarter, all in the last five minutes. For all Adelaide’s dominance, they only led at quarter time by five points, and Port had wrestled back all the momentum.
The heavens opened once again, and once again the Crows came out firing. James Peatling was in the right place at the right time and nailed his set shot, and the Crows targeted Port’s fire starter Zak Butters, the little dynamo relishing in the fight and earning his team a free kick from the centre square. But Adelaide’s team defence had things covered, and although they were trying to play dry-weather football, the Crows had taken back control of proceedings. When Riley Thilthorpe kicked a brilliant snapping kick from the forward arc, the Crows had put some distance on the scoreboard.
But if you thought the heavens had opened to start the quarter, Adelaide Oval became an ocean during time on. A sustained burst of teaming rain made the going near impossible for the players and umpires, and while it was an interesting watch, skills and slick ball movement went out the window in favour of moving the ball forward by any means necessary. A diving effort from Murray stopped Mitch Georgiades from putting some scoreboard pressure on the Crows, before four scoring shots in a row from the Crows blew the margin out to 29 points at half time. The Crows were all over Port in almost every facet of the game, and too much was being left to too few for the Power.
The Crows had more of the ball, but also led the tackle count, had the Power’s measure in clearance and contested possession, and while the inside 50 count was relatively even, Adelaide had generated 15 scoring shots to Port’s six, highlighting the efficiency the Crows had built with their superior work forward of centre.
The rain cleared as the second half commenced, but the status quo remained on the field. Adelaide once again came out full of running and set about increasing their lead on their battered opponents. Some increasingly dubious umpiring decisions became a feature of the quarter and favoured the home side terribly. Port fans, including the one sitting beside me, became increasingly furious, but their anger should’ve been directed at their own team, as the Crows were continually first to the ball, and applied more pressure on the ball carrier.
Three goals in quick succession, to Thilthorpe, Jordan Dawson, and Walker, blew the margin past eight goals, before the Power responded with a clever goal from Jed McEntee, giving them a glimmer of hope. Through Mitch Georgiades two minutes later, Port had something to work with, but the Crows quickly snuffed that out, firstly through a Reilly O’Brien snap he tried to give off to Keays at least three times before ROB slotted the checkside kick. Then Sam Berry burst through a centre square stoppage and goaled from just outside 50 to push the margin back out, taking a commanding 50-point advantage into the final break.
Whatever belief the Power had tried to find at the back end of the third quarter was well and truly killed when both teams turned for home, and what happened in the final 30 minutes was nothing short of remarkable. Conditions were still horrendous, and while the rain had eased, the grass was still wetter than England on a summer’s day. Yet the Crows continued their onslaught, and nothing the Power could do was going to stop them. Thilthorpe kicked his third after 60 seconds had passed, and although Port was defending for their lives, it felt like an even bigger tsunami was approaching, if the Crows had the appetite.
The appetite, they had. Midway through the term, through Jake Soligo and Walker’s third, Adelaide had blown the margin out to 69 points, and the Showdown record margin of 84 points was under serious threat. Time on arrived, and the Crows fully put their foot on the throats, with five goals in a 10-minute withering burst. Luke Pedlar and Darcy Fogarty joined the goal scorers list, Soligo grabbed his second in a stunning individual second-half display, and Keays nabbed his second and third to blow the Power away.
The records tumbled, the Power were dead and buried, and the Crows had sailed to the top of the AFL ladder. While the umpires hadn’t read the fairy-tale script of triple figures (which irritated the home crowd), Adelaide had sent a message to their long-time rivals, and the rest of the competition, condemning Hinkley to the worst Showdown defeat in his final one in charge, to the tune of a mind-blowing 98 points.
THE STANDOUT PERFORMERS
Such was the comprehensiveness of the Crows’ victory that I could simply say that all of Adelaide’s 23 players were standouts, and end this section there. And in reality, I somewhat struggled to contain my list of Crows players, as this was one of the most even performances I’ve seen from a team in recent memory. At least half a dozen of their players would’ve been deserving winners of the Showdown medal, and singling out anyone for a sub-par performance feels very nit-picky.
Conversely, putting together the list of standout Port Adelaide players was also a struggle, but only because the question can be asked as to who actually played well. Once I got past the obvious answer, I really began clutching at straws trying to justify their inclusion.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way early, and I apologise, Port fans, but this falls squarely on you. The Power’s best player by the length of the Murray River was their heart and soul, Zak Butters. Butters was simply exemplary in a team that asked him to do far too much without support. Butters gathered 34 disposals, 19 contested possessions, 11 clearances, eight inside 50s and 667 metres gained. The knock I saw from pundits regarding Butters’ performance was his pressure and the fact that he only laid four tackles. But really, if that’s the only negative, it’s an extremely minor one, and Butters was left to do so much, if his tackling pressure was a little sub-par (and it wasn’t as bad as some suggested), others in the team needed to step up that side of their game more, given they weren’t helping Butters anywhere else.
Aside from Butters, how many other players can hold their heads high? I thought Aliir Aliir played better than the stats would suggest, as he looked like a one-man wall in defence. At different stages, I saw Aliir have four different direct opponents, and he played extremely admirably, given the amount of ball that came his way, the fact that he has essentially been on one leg for the last few weeks, and that, like Butters, Aliir had not much help from those around him. Kane Farrell registered 24 disposals, 21 of them by foot; he led the game for metres gained (768 metres), and his 66% disposal efficiency was Port’s second best (behind Jed McEntee, who only had four disposals). Ollie Wines had some strong moments in the contest, but only went at 40% efficiency. Connor Rozee led his team well, but looked hobbled by his finger injury, and Mitch Georgiades played a lone hand up forward. While he gathered 18 touches, he only kicked the solitary goal. Josh Sinn also played well in restricting Izak Rankine’s impact.
But that’s about it.
Now we get to the list of players who should be bitterly disappointed, and I’m putting the focus on four players in particular, although I honestly could’ve spoken about 10 or more in this category.
But when the tall forwards at the other end are busy winning medals and dominating the contest, and your main man next to you is demanding some assistance, it’s up to you to at least show some fight and not be completely nullified from go to woe.
But that’s exactly what happened with Ollie Lord and Jack Lukosius. It’s especially galling for Lukosius, who was brought to Alberton with a reputation for not enjoying the physicality, and that was on full display here. Lukosius kick-started Port’s scoring, a behind, and was barely sighted for the rest of the game. Lord was somehow even worse, only touching the ball four times (only one of which was an effective disposal), and while he spent time in the ruck, he only registered one hit-out and was completely ineffective against whomever he was up against. Yes, the weather played some role in hurting the impact of the taller players, but it didn’t slow down the big three at the other end, so that excuse doesn’t really fly.
Darcy Byrne-Jones doesn’t seem to be a wet-weather player at all, because after impacting the game very little last week against Hawthorn, he was exposed even more tonight. Byrne-Jones only registered five disposals, none of which were effective, and his tackling pressure inside forward 50 was non-existent, only laying the one tackle and continuously allowing Adelaide’s defenders to run straight past him.
Then there’s the tricky case of perhaps the Power’s greatest ever player, Travis Boak. This hurts, as Boak has been a warrior for Port for the best part of 20 years. But his time in the game looks like it is rapidly coming to a close. Boak gathered 11 disposals, which doesn’t look too bad compared to some of his teammates, but it needs to be said that Boak only had five disposals to three-quarter time, and his first kick didn’t come until the last quarter. At 36 years old, the game has gone past Boak, and I know that he’d love to make it to the 400 game milestone, but that would involve hanging on into 2026, and he would look even more the shell of himself than he does now, and we wouldn’t want to see his career end in that way, because it is threatening to look like that now.
Everyone else that I haven’t mentioned was fine. No more than that. But the reason nearly everyone involved in this debacle should be looking over their shoulder is because of the SANFL Showdown that preceded the AFL battle. Port Magpies lost that game to their more-fancied opponents, but they only lost by 15 points (although Adelaide was extremely wayward in front of goal), and the Crows are a top-three team in the SANFL, so to only lose by less than three goals shows significant fight and determination, something the Power were severely lacking. If Hinkley wanted to make changes, and he really should, names that could be brought in include Dylan Williams, who responded to his omission with another six-goal haul, Jack Whitlock, who showed positive signs playing many more minutes in the ruck, and midfielders Will Lorenz (36 disposals), Mani Liddy (27 disposals), and Christian Moraes (22 disposals).
So many of Adelaide’s players enjoyed excellent performances, and there were too many to list everyone. Just getting the negatives out of the way now, Luke Pedlar and Zac Taylor would’ve liked to have had more impact on the game (six and eight disposals respectively), but they laid nine tackles between them and showed good forward pressure. They played their role, and that’s all you can ask. I’m certain there’ll be no unforced changes to the team (Isaac Cumming should return in place of the hamstrung Max Michalanney), but if Matthew Nicks wanted to have a look at some younger players before the finals, Sid Draper, Luke Nankervis and Billy Dowling were all amongst the Crows’ SANFL team’s best, with 20, 26 and 23 disposals respectively, and Nankervis hit the scoreboard, although he missed three of his four shots on goal.
I wanted to focus on six players in particular, but I also wanted to say that if you believe another player should’ve been mentioned amongst Adelaide’s best, rest assured, because their efforts were certainly noticed. As we spoke about earlier, Adelaide were consistently first to the loose ball, and their tackling pressure was first class. Port never had the time and space they needed to generate any forward ball movement, and that was largely due to the (within the rules) harassment they received from the Crows, regularly gang tackled, and bullied with superior physicality. This certainly was as strong a full-team performance as you’ll see all year, and I wanted to make it clear that although I’m focusing on the top five, everyone to a man played their key role brilliantly.
The best player on the ground (arguably) was Riley Thilthorpe. While the key forwards at the other struggled in the conditions, Thilthorpe was excellent. When the game was there to be won in the first half, Thilthorpe led the Crows, and he seemed to get even better as the wet weather rolled in. Gathering 19 disposals, 11 contested possessions, 10 score involvements and three goals, Thilthorpe was a monster in the air, and equally as good when the ball was at his feet. Amongst a sea of brilliance, Thilthorpe was a worthy winner of his first Showdown medal.
Captain Jordan Dawson led from the front in the middle of the ground, and the tackling pressure spoken about so much in this piece was championed by Dawson. Only Alex Neal-Bullen laid more tackles, but Dawson’s 10, combined with his 21 disposals, 11 contested possessions and five inside 50s ensured the Crows were always on top in and around the contest. Dawson had many opponents trying to curtail his influence, and he consistently found a way to see them off through sheer work rate.
Since crossing from the Giants, James Peatling has enjoyed by far his best season at AFL level. Sure, he needs to work on his aggression when tackling, but overall, he has played a vital role in the midfield, a midfield that we all remember being too slow and predictable only a few short years ago. Peatling had the ball on a string, gathering 26 disposals, 14 contested possessions, nine clearances, seven score involvements, six tackles, 510 metres gained, second only to Jake Soligo, and a goal from three shots.
I think it’s now pretty close to a lock. Dan Curtin will win this year’s Rising Star award. If you had suggested that in the first half of the season, you’d have been committed to a psych ward, but since the bye, and honestly even a little before that, Curtin has found a niche as a tall, running wingman. Tonight he was superb, both in the air and on the ground, gathering 22 disposals, 14 contested possessions, eight tackles and six score involvements. While he didn’t take the same number of marks he usually does, his ability to use his superior height to bring the ball to ground, and either give his teammates first use, or take the ball away himself, was a consistent feature all night.
Jake Soligo had what can only be described as a solid, yet unspectacular first half. 11 disposals, and some nice moments, but there wasn’t too much there to speak of glowingly. That is, until half-time ended, and when Adelaide exploded in the second half, so did Soligo, gathering 24 disposals, two goals and 416 metres gained in the final 60 minutes of the game. Relishing in the speed of the game that Adelaide played in, Soligo was everywhere for the Crows, providing countless links in forward chains and working himself into a frenzy running up and down the wings.
Reilly O’Brien may have won Adelaide’s best and fairest in 2020, but I believe he is enjoying an even better 2025. The stat line in the battle between O’Brien and Jordon Sweet looks very even on paper, but that doesn’t take into account the work around the ground where O’Brien was able to distinguish himself. Regularly moving forward to give some assistance, O’Brien played a typically underrated, unnoticed role, that is, until his checkside from the boundary in the third quarter, a goal that I’m sure he will never kick again. Media outlets are suggesting that Adelaide should be spending big dollars to upgrade their number one ruck, but with O’Brien being this consistently excellent, I’m not sure they need to be worrying.
This will go down as one of the most significant Showdown victories in history, but not for the reasons we all would’ve wanted. For Ken Hinkley’s final Showdown in charge, his team produced one of its weakest efforts and stuck the proverbial middle finger up at their coach, sending him out in the most embarrassing fashion.
On the other side, the Crows relished in their opponents and reminded the rest of the competition that when they are at their potent best, no one will be able to stop the onslaught. A more perfect team performance you won’t see this year, and the lack of effort on one side was matched with a ravenous appetite for the contest from the other.
We love the Showdown because of the fascinating and compelling stories it gives us, and this one delivered in its own unique way. Josh Carr is inheriting a mess, Matthew Nicks is marching towards a flag, and in the space of one season of significance, the seismic shift of state control has emerged.
