R16 - Showdown

Well, better get a thread started for this one!

Showdown this week and it will be massive.

There will be a lot of residual emotion still from the Walsh tragedy and no doubt there will be some joint commemorations at the start of the game. However then I think it will be on like Donkey Kong!

I have a feeling this one will be a belter.

Post away

Pittard rolled an ankle and training yesterday and won't be available for Sunday's match.

Booney wrote:Pittard rolled an ankle and training yesterday and won't be available for Sunday's match.

Power clangers will be down by 50% then.

Tbh, I have no flamin' clue what to expect in this match.

Gut feeling we may win just because Port won earlier in the year. No real idea though.

for a variety of reasons i can see both teams winning & both teams losing, my logic suggests to me Port might win as Adelaide travelled to Perth but somehow there could be divine intervention & a draw could be the result, so i'll tip a draw with Adelaide 15.10.100 & Port 16.4.100

The closer we get to this game the more I think that this Showdown will be an absolute classic.

Both teams have probably worked through their grief to the point where they are ready to take the field again and attack this game with everything they've got.

The more the week moves on, the more confident I am that Adelaide will win also. I feel like last week was the release, and this week will be about getting on with the job and doing what Walsh would want them to do.

Van Berlo dropped

In the last public display of admiration to the late Phillip Walsh the Power and Crows outfits will run through a joint banner before Sundays and game and the Showdown 39 medal will be called the Phil Walsh medal for just this one Showdown.

It’s been great to hear players from both sides say that they are looking forwards to moving on after this final show of respect and the first ball up will be a trigger for all of them to do what Phil would want. Get in there ,get on with it and get the job done.

It’s still hard to tell how the Crows will handle this one. The first time back in their rooms where the Walsh memories will flow for the first time, the first time back out on Adelaide Oval, the first time their fasn will get the chance to sing the song before the game. Again, plenty of emotion for the players this week and if they can harness that, get their heads and hearts in the game then this one shapes to be a belter.

It won’t be a belter in terms of pure football, both these sides cough it up on a regular basis and are bottom 4 for disposal efficiency. So expect plenty of turn overs and expect to see the likes of Gray, Wingard, Betts and Cameron get some “cheap” ones out the back as a result.

Port have got a little bit of form, a close loss in Sydney then a win over the Pies in Adelaide last week as the Crows dealt with the loss of Walsh and a pantsing in Perth. Not that I think last week counts for much in Adelaides sense, the Eagles are spanking everyone and Adelaide were hardly going to be in the head space to challenge a premiership contender after the week they had.

By the numbers :

Port have picked up in the midfield, 3rd for hitouts ( Adelaide 14th ) 2nd for clearances ( Adelaide 11th ) 1st for tackles ( Adelaide 16th ) 5th for contested possession ( Adelaide 13th ). You’d think from that this will be one sided, but it won’t be, because for all the good work Port do in the middle and around the ball the usage going forward has been shocking at times and worse when things have been really bad.

Goals from turnovers, goals FROM TURNOVERS!!!!

Both sides are guilty of it, Port average 46 points per week conceded from turnovers, Adelaide 52. On the slip side Adelaide manage 50 points per week from opposition blunders while Port manage just 40. It shows, when Port turn it over they get scored against but then they get a turnover they don’t take advantage of it like Adelaide do. Eddie Betts has scored 110 points from opposition turnovers this year, the 5th best in the league. When you cough it up to Adelaide, Betts is the man sneaking into position to take advantage of it.

In the match earlier in the year Port had some big performers pull some big numbers. 5 goals to Schulz, 3 to Ryder in perhaps his best outing for the club and Gray, Boak and Ebert were stand outs. Adelaide had Betts bag 5 ( 4 from turnovers! ) and Walker and Jenkins two each.

Port have finally got a ruck combination to match Jacobs who looked to be as flat as any Crow last week and he’s had a pretty lean month or so. He usually towels up Lobbe, but with back up from Ryder, Westhoff and Trengove the Power look to have a little edge over Jacobs and Jenkins. Big weekend ahead for the big Sauce, he’ll show up ready though.

So who makes the difference? Gray, Boak, Ebert, Hartlett with Thompson, Dangerfield, Douglas and Smith. It’s an even bunch there.Small forwards Wingard and Betts lead the way for both clubs, they’re both in good nick, Wingard is in very good touch especially. Big men at both clubs have been struggling. Walker and Jenkins have had a lean month, Schulz and Westhoff the same.

So, it’ll be who can turn it over less and when the opposition cough it up who can make the most of having it on the bounce.

Complete bias here, but with a little bit of back up from recent form. Port by 29 points.

I like where the clubs are headed with both groups of supporters doing the walk down from Rundle Mall to Adelaide Oval. Over the years I have seen some real bitterness from individuals from both supporter groups, it is my hope that through this tragedy some of that attitude might dissapate for good.

As for the actual match at hand I am going to tip Port Adelaide, the Crows looked out of touch against West Coast and will need a big turn around this week to win against Port. I think the Crows will improve, but Port will likely still have their measure this week. Port Adelaide by 37pts.

Epic

That was a seriously good game of footy.

Well it was tables turned yesterday afternoon at Adelaide Oval.

Adelaide fans would admit they’ve been frustrated by their sides slow starts this year that has them playing catch up footy for the much of the game resulting in tired legs and minds making poor skill errors and decisions. Not so yesterday.

Adelaide burst out of the blocks to jump to an early lead by making the most of every one of their F50 entries. 6 goals straight at one point to 2.4 and both sides had had their turn with it, one side just used it much better than the other. Jenkins, Walker and Lynch looked ominous up forward and Jacobs was giving Thompson, Danger and Douglas a good look at it. For Port, Ryder looked on as did Hartlett who had gone deeper into defence to cover the loss of Pittard. Adelaide by 15 at the first change.

The second quarter was a much more of an arm wrestle, 5 goals to both sides and although the gap was still 3 goals it looked as though Port were getting some more run from defence and had Ryder hit the scoreboard again, Wingard got some valuable touches but a lack of discipline ( or slightly dodgy calls ) gave Adelaide a couple of easy goals on the back of 2 50m penalties. One of them, Trengove on Cameron was in a marking contest, slightly late, but it was a contest and it was also a 50. The other, O’Shea going over the mark inside the centre square was a costly error that need not have happened. Again, Jacobs and the Adelaide mids were dictating the run of play but it was Port’s back half just getting on top. Boy, did that change.

Adelaide were on fire straight after the main break, a 7 goal quarter ultimately set up the win and the work of Lynch and Walker during this quarter proved to be the difference. Lynch lost Clurey on several occasions to create an avenue to Adelaide’s goal mouth, Betts slipped out the back for an easy one after a terrible turnover from Neade while Laird and Henderson started to mop up down back.
The loss of Talia looked to be bad news for Adelaide, Ryder and Schulz were offering targets and Adelaide fans full well know that Westhoff can take the game from them. With Talia off it was down to Hartigan to take Schulz and the undersized Lever and Henderson to battle with Ryder or the resting Lobbe ( who kicked 2 ) and Westhoff. They held sway as Port wasted more ball coming forward and an even 30 points at ¾ time looked to much for Port to peg back.

The last quarter was an interesting one for both sides. The first 5 minutes showed Adelaide intention. Slow the play, move the ball sideways to uncontested possession and keep the ball off Port. They almost looked like they were happy to go goalless from the outset, might not have been 100% their intention, but it ended up exactly that way. Adelaide held goalless for the last stanza.

It was an arm wrestle until about the 15 minute mark when Ryder marked and goaled, so did Wingard, so did Lobbe.....all of a sudden it’s back to 17 points. Boak gets the aid of a 50m penalty and it’s back to 11 with about 6 minutes to go. Game on. One costly miss from Westhoff during this period proved to be very, very costly.

Port push forward and the skills of Robbie Gray shine as he swoops, snaps truly and it’s a 3 point ball game. Adelaide are still sitting back, happy to let Port come at them and when Adelaide got the ball from defence to the wing they were happy to back pedal and hold possession again. And this is how the frantic last quarter would end, Adelaide just holding on by 3 points.

The main points from the game :

• Adelaide moved the ball from defence to attack far too easily on far too many occasions. Smith, Martin and Wright only had about 40 touches between the three of them, but many of them were from deep in defence at kick ins or ball ups that cleared the zone for Adelaide. This happened often and without too much pressure from Port.
• Sam Jacobs would like to play against Port every week. As I noted in my preview he had been a little off for a month or so, but did he show up on the weekend or what? 50+ hitouts giving Thompson, Dangerfield and Douglas first look and they took advantage of this with 89 disposals and 32 clearances between them. This was the difference. Port had 39 clearances combined.
• Adelaide held Wines to 19 touches and 8 clearances. Hey, most players would be happy with these numbers but Wines has been Ports prime mover for a few weeks now and his influence was limited by the Adelaide mids. Mainly as they got the ball first.
• Adelaide’s forwards who have had a quiet few weeks found some form. Walker with 6 marks, 3 goals and 3 goal assists was important leading his team. Jenkins had 5 marks (3 I50 ) and 3 goals and Cameron hit the board with 2 goals. Port, mainly Krakouer, kept Betts pretty much out of the game other than the cheap one he got out the back on a turnover. A real win for Krakouer there.

Once again Port fans go home lamenting the poor decision making and ball use from the back half and wonder why oh why have we started going sideways instead of direct to goal when we had, for the first time in weeks, seen a marking target in Ryder looking dangerous in front of goal.
Playing for pride now in 2015 with an eye on 2016 and getting the likes of Ah Chee, Young, Moore, Amon and Clurey more game time at the top level.
In the end Adelaide far too good around the ball, used the ball better and finished off in front of goal when they had to.

Well, what a game hey? Absolute ball tearer.

Plenty of things yesterday that were really really pleasing:
- Adelaide's tacking was brilliant all game, even in the last when Port were coming.
- Adelaide's 'team defence' would've made Walshy proud. Port really struggled going forward for the majority of the game.
- A lot of 'out of form' players were back with a vengeance. Douglas in particular was fantastic, especially in the first half.

All in all I loved the way Adelaide attacked the footy and attacked the game. Brilliant stuff. Love Monday's after a Showdown win!

Oh, and one more point - we kicked straight! You bloody beauty! Finally!

What an exhilarating game. Loved it. Was terrified in the 2nd quarter when Talia went down as we were seriously undersized down back even with him there. However I thought Jake Lever who had made a couple of mistakes early really stepped up in the second half of the game. (His old side Romsey could have done with him as we really lacked defensive pressure against Riddell's Creek on the weekend). I'm delighted again that we're bringing so many kids through this season- Rory Atkins has been around a while so it's good to see him get a go and Riley Knight has done some good things both weeks he's been in. Of course Mr Warrior is a Port supporter so that does make a showdown win a little more enjoyable (especially with little mister and miss Warrior clearly in the Crows camp and giving it to their dad). I'm just hoping we don't suffer too badly from the inevitable let down next week.

The kids coming through, in all sides, are super impressive, aren't they?

Two players both sides have at the moment, Lever ( 194cm / 85 kg ) and Hombsch ( 194cm / 85kg - 6'3" ) are both amazing athletes. They play small when needed, they play tall on the big guys ( Hombsch has beaten Franklin and Cloke this year while Lever held Ryder/Schulz in a few one one ones on the weekend ) and both look set to be long term players for both clubs.

Really like the look of Riley Knight for you blokes too, looks very agile and a good ball user.

Knight has shown a lot in his couple games. Been on the list for a while so it's great to see him finally get his crack at the big time.

Matt Crouch is another who has really impressed me over the last month or so. He's been a quiet achiever, but his skills in tight are becoming more impressive by the game. Real quick hands, seems to be able to farm out the ball and create something even in the most congested situations.

Really is remarkable how much talent Adelaide has been able to pull together despite their recent draft penalties.

Mostly smalls though Ginge, lots of pressure on Hartigan to keep his form line on the path it's on. Nothing tall at SANFL level as back up.