R5 - Showdown...something with X's & I's & V's...

And so Showdown week appears from the mists of the first month of the season and with the form lines of both sides taking a dramatic turn over the proceeding round.

Port are back on deck after handing the reigning Premiers their plane ticket home with a cracking performance which featured periods of irresistible attack and dour defence.

Adelaide rolled out onto Etihad in cruise control after a 3 zip start and got smacked from start to finish by the young and exuberant Dogs. Reality checks don't come much bigger than that.

Throw into this the fact that it's a Showdown and form and ladder position really mean nothing, and it's a real tippers nightmare this week.

Post away ladies and gents.

Port by 80.

If Walker has his mind on the game and not sending out tweets about Clarkson a few hours before the game, Port by 60.

For me this week presents a true test of Walsh's abilities and the character and commitment of Adelaide's playing squad.

Every team loses. Even the champion sides get their **** handed to them every now and then. It's the response and their ability to learn from it that matters.

I hope the Adelaide players see this week's game as an opportunity rather than a threat. After all, what better way to respond to a loss like that than with a Showdown win?

Paul wrote:Port by 80.

If Walker has his mind on the game and not sending out tweets about Clarkson a few hours before the game, Port by 60.

My mail is he's carrying something and probably shouldn't have played yesterday

Now the disappointment of Sunday's effort has subsided I'm starting to feel more upbeat about Adelaide's chances in this weeks Showdown.

I had a listen back to Walsh's chat on 5AA last night and he has a great perspective on footy. In his words "we're 4 rounds in to a 22 round boxing match - in round 4 we were knocked down but not out."

Really this week for Adelaide is all about response. Every team is going to have a loss over the journey, it's about how you respond that really defines you.

A similar theory could even be extended into games. All teams are challenged, and champion teams respond as we saw both Hawthorn and Sydney do over the weekend despite neither coming away with the win.

I'm confident Walsh and the players will be approaching preparations in the right manner this week and will give a good showing on the weekend. Walsh seemed super excited at the prospect of taking Port on which was really great to hear also.

I also think, should Adelaide serve up the same performance two weeks in a row, there will be some hefty consequences and wholesale changes ahead of Round 6. Walsh was also very clear about "finding the players who can get the job done."

i'm tipping a draw as it is a 50-50 match

Technically, every game is a 50-50 match.

Gingernuts wrote:Now the disappointment of Sunday's effort has subsided I'm starting to feel more upbeat about Adelaide's chances in this weeks Showdown.

I had a listen back to Walsh's chat on 5AA last night and he has a great perspective on footy. In his words "we're 4 rounds in to a 22 round boxing match - in round 4 we were knocked down but not out."

Really this week for Adelaide is all about response. Every team is going to have a loss over the journey, it's about how you respond that really defines you.

A similar theory could even be extended into games. All teams are challenged, and champion teams respond as we saw both Hawthorn and Sydney do over the weekend despite neither coming away with the win.

I'm confident Walsh and the players will be approaching preparations in the right manner this week and will give a good showing on the weekend. Walsh seemed super excited at the prospect of taking Port on which was really great to hear also.

I also think, should Adelaide serve up the same performance two weeks in a row, there will be some hefty consequences and wholesale changes ahead of Round 6. Walsh was also very clear about "finding the players who can get the job done."

Quite the challenge for Walsh as well.

He is just so super intense, it would have been an interesting week to follow him and see his reaction to the weekends loss. Whilst I say he is very intense ( and he is ) I also think people like that are very measured and only erupt when it's really needed. I can't see him tearing pain off the walls after last week, the players wouldn't have needed to be told. I think the icy dip on Monday morning would have been a nice little taste test to see how much pain he could inflict upon them if he wanted too.

Having said that, dish up another one like that this week and I'd be getting out of the Riverbank Stand quick smart just in case the ground beneath implodes!

Paul wrote:Technically, every game is a 50-50 match.

but in reality as you know, they aren't

Port should kick 25 goals

Looks like there will be just the one change to both sides from last week, Hartigan out for Cheney and Ah Chee out for Gray.

Unlikely changes may see Cameron come into the Adelaide side for Lyons.

I'm surprised by Hartigans ommission, Port will, at times, have Schulz, Westhoff and Ryder in the F50. I felt Hartigans bigger body may be required against Ryder when he goes forward and then Lobbe when resting. It also means Cheney ( after missing two with a hamstring ) gets Schulz or Westhoff outside of Adelaides D50. Talia gets the stay at home of those two as the last line of defence and Cheney will have his work cut out chasing one of the other two up the ground. I'm not sure that suits him. I thought Hartigan at home with Talia roaming with the forward up the ground. I'm no coach though.....

The midfield is impossible to predict, other than Cornes on Sloane and van Berlo on Boak, not much can be done to predict other match ups, they change far too often to have a crack at, but I will anyway.

Thomspon - Hartlett
van Berlo - Boak
Sloane - Cornes

While Dangerfield/McKay/Douglas and Ebert/Polec/Wingard work themselves out with the other rotations of Grigg,Ellis-Yoleman,Wright, Smith taking Mitchell, White and Young through there. The only variable is Adelaide trying to stop Ebert/Hartlett with van Berlo and Adelaide sending Cornes to Douglas or Thompson. I think Sloane and Boak will be the subject of the attention though.

In Ports back half I'd send Jonas to Walker, Trengove to Jenkins, Hombsch to Lynch and allow Carlile to be the at home defender as Talia is at the other end. The likely match up of Betts and Krakouer is enthralling. Both can be very damaging if left unattended and to play their own game. The challenge first and foremost is on Krakouer to hold Betts, then the pressure is on Betts to not allow Krakouer to be creative.

I think Wright will be given the role as a defensive forward on Broadbent, if Cameron doesn't come into the side.

Finally, finally I'm confident of matching Jacobs in a Showdown. Lobbe has battled manfully against the bigger Ginger but struggled to have any influence on the game while Jacobs has done as he pleases in recent outings. With the ability to send the mobile Ryder into the fray I think this gives Port the edge in the ruck department. While Jenkins is improving, the two pronged attack will mean Jacobs will need some down time at some point and the pressure will be on Jenkins. Lobbe and Jacobs start, Port peel Lobbe forward to mis-match the front 50 and send Ryder to the ball. Jacobs needs a chop out when Ryder hits the ball, Jenkins comes up, Lobbe goes straight back on the ball to test Jenkins......and round and round we go!

Adelaide will be hell bent on making up for last weeks effort, Port will be hell bent on taking last weeks first half run into the game.

Port by 28 points.

The defence and the ruck are my main areas of concern.

I was also surprised to see Hartigan out of the side. I would've thought his bigger body would be crucial in matching Ryder, Schulz & Westhoff. Clearly Walsh has some kind of plan brewing there. Perhaps Lynch will drop back as an extra man and provide support?

Or maybe Walsh is just throwing down the challenge to his midfield to execute his 'team defence'.

In the ruck meanwhile, Jacobs against Ryder and Lobbe individually is no problem - but having them ruck in tandem against him will be tough for big Sauce, particularly around the ground as well. Big challenge for him this week.

While I believe Adelaide will respond after last weeks poor showing, I tend to concur with your tip Booney. Port Adelaide by around 20 odd points will be the final score I think.

The match up of Jonas and then Pittard on Betts was interesting.

Betts was running amok and would have been the superhero if he kicked straighter from his own pocket.

Not sure why Port didn't go with a smaller more agile player. Would Krakouer have been a better option maybe?

Well, that was a weird but very entertaining game last night. I say weird because despite losing a Showdown I actually didn’t walk out of the ground too disappointed.

Adelaide won most of the statistical categories, but unfortunately not the scoreboard. I was actually very pleased with their application and effort – it was just a lack of polish that was their undoing in the end.

The game was lost in the second term really when we dominated a large stretch of the play and yet didn’t convert it to scores. In fact, a couple of behinds directly led to Port goals on the rebound (Dangerfield’s comes to mind).

Port’s run and spread was impressive, but I also thought our defence did very well. When the ball didn’t come in with a clear advantage to Port I thought Laird, Kelly & Cheney did very well. In fact there was a couple of occasions where they were outnumbered and thwarted certain Port goals IMO. I like the way our defence is developing, there is the makings of a solid unit of hard nuts coming together. We were exposed for height down there as expected though.

Thompson was impressive (I thought he would struggle this year), and I really liked Ellis-Yolmen’s game as well. Betts was excellent of course. I thought big Sauce was superb in the ruck all night against 2 very capable opponents.

The general panic in the forward 50 was probably the biggest disappointment. Need find some composure around goal – not only for conversion, but also to limit the opportunities for opponents to play rebound footy.

So all in all, disappointed but also upbeat about what the rest of the season holds.

Your biggest concern would have to be Jenkins. Hardly sighted since round 1 and offering nothing as far as an avenue to goal or even a target goes. Lynch is having to go too far up the ground to find the ball leaving Walker basically as CHF and Betts as FF. While Betts was very good yesterday, you're not going to win too often with him as the "key" forward inside 50 while Walker and Lynch go and act as the conduit from defence to attack.

Port did well, very well holding Sloane out of the game, Smith was only sporadic in his impact on the game while Douglas and McKay were also in and out of the game.

Adelaide probably had 2 of the 5 best on the ground ( Betts and Dangerfield ) but Port probably had 8 of the best 10 on the ground, not many stood out for Adelaide after those two.

How much does Dangerfield frustrate you blokes? 36 touches, excellent, running at 63% with 7 clangers and several moments in time where I can recall him either blazing away from the centre or just missing a target leading up to him. He's an elite ball winner, but IMO, only an average ball user. Some of his clearance work is amazing, then he shovels it out over his head to nobody? He could very well be THE best player in the competition, until he tidies up his disposal he'll just remain one of the top 10-15 in the competition, when he should be #1 or #2.

Schulz, Wingard and Hartlett all ice cool when it came to finishing at important times through the game. Ryder's goal to start the third very important and Westhoff getting one out with Kelly twice resulted in two goals.

The second term was very interesting, I'm sure if Walsh could have called a time out he would have! Stop bombing it in from outside 50 FFS!!!! Adelaide got the ball forward of centre, held it for 5-10 seconds to long, bombed it to Carlile, Lobbe, Trengove with no Jacobs or Jenkins to be seen. Walker is then out of position after leading up and we start all over again. Surely Adelaide had to lower the eyes, look for someone 40-45 out and not for the top of the square. Walsh would have been going nuts.

Yes I don't know what is wrong with Jenkins at the moment. Badly out of form, but there really is not one else on the list to replace him at the moment I don't think.

Saying Port had 8 out of the best 10 is off the mark I reckon. I'd have it more 6 - 4. Thompson at the very least would be in there. Not that it means much in the grand scheme of things!

Correct weight on Dangerfield. He really should have tidied up his disposal by now.

Probably had 8 of the best 10....

Yes, Thompson was good, he certainly put the body on the line. Gray,Boak,Ebert,Lobbe,Ryder,Schulz, Pittard and Wingard all had enough of it or enough of an influence on the outcome to be in there.

Brad Ebert has taken his game to an elite level IMO. While he has always had the ability to win the ball, cover ground and defend either tackling or putting his body on the line when needed, his disposal had been questioned. Not any more. I think his disposal is now top notch.

Makes the whole Ebert v Dangerfield draft debate interesting (remember that?).

It has always clearly been Dangerfield, but if Ebert keeps his form up that would be a solid debate again.

I seem to recall something.....

While Dangerfield is still in front, it's not by as far as it used to be and the gap appears to be closing.

I don't think many clubs would knock back either player now.

What will be interesting, if Dangerfield leaves, returns "home" ( obviously at say Geelong it is not as much "home" as an Ebert is at Alberton ) and see what happens to his form then.

Douglas out for up to six weeks with a foot injury.

Not surprising, he didn't look 100% at times yesterday.

Sheizen.

Sloane could be out with a corky as well, plus Henderson had something funky happen to his chest/shoulder as well.

Could be an interesting couple of weeks coming up - but a chance for some youngsters to come in and make an impact (M Crouch, Kerridge, Lever knocking).