Crows claim SA bragging rights in Showdown win
Irresistible Adelaide pulled off a Showdown stunner to get its season heading in the right direction, Jake Soligo starring in an impressive win over wayward Port Adelaide, who lost skipper Connor Rozee to injury.
In the first Showdown to be played as a standalone match in a primetime timeslot, Adelaide stole the limelight, seeing off a late challenge to take a 28-27 Showdown lead, with Soligo earning the Showdown Medal as best player afield.
After an 0-4 start, Adelaide has won three of its past four games to claw back to a 3-5 record, while Port slips to 5-3.
Port’s gamble with Rozee didn’t pay off, the star skipper subbed out at three-quarter time with hamstring tightness.
Despite Rozee’s absence the Power poured on the pressure in a frantic final term, with the Crows’ run drying up.
Adelaide hadn’t kicked a goal since the eight-minute mark of the third quarter until Josh Rachele settled frayed nerves with the sealer with seven minutes left.
MAKING ‘EM COUNT
The Crows quickly fell behind in the inside 50 count, but they made their forward forays count.
Darcy Fogarty converted two strong contested marks and Taylor Walker stroked home a superb running goal from 50 from Adelaide’s first three trips inside 50.
With Zak Butters everywhere, the Power was dominating the territory battle, but the Crows caught Ken Hinkley’s side out for two fast break goals to jump out to a 23-point lead before Port found its groove in attack.
Two goals in the last two minutes of the first quarter sliced Adelaide’s lead to eight points, the Power failing to capitalise on 11 more inside 50s for the term.
Eagle-eyed Adelaide converted its first seven shots at goal, booting the only two majors of the second quarter, wayward Power adding three behinds to its quarter-time tally to trail by 19 points at the main break.
The errant display continued a concerning theme for Hinkley, who has been at pains to assure fans his charges can’t work any harder at improving their accuracy.
ROZEE ALRIGHT?
Rozee surprised many outside Alberton when he lined up just six days after a hamstring scare, with most expecting him to join Sam Powell-Pepper (knee) and Aliir Aliir (concussion) on the sidelines.
The star onballer tested his legs out early when he chased a Butters long ball through the middle in the opening minutes, then took a long shot at goal only to kick into the man on the mark.
Rozee had nine possessions and four clearances in the first half, but spent around 10 minutes on the bench in the third quarter with the game in the balance.
He came back on with six minutes remaining in the term, but didn’t move well, with vision showing he had hyperextended his left knee, the opposite leg to his troubled hamstring.
But the club took to social media soon after to confirm he had been ruled out with hamstring tightness.
IZAK’S EDDIE BEST
Izak Rankine did his best impersonation of Eddie Betts in the retired great’s favourite pocket early in the third quarter.
A handball shot out to Rankine and the star forward threw it on his right boot before saluting the fans on the scoreboard hill as the ball bent through for a spectacular goal.
It put Adelaide up by 31 points, Port hanging on grimly before Jason Horne-Francis kicked his side’s first goal since the last minute of the first quarter with 30 seconds left in the third term.
SEE YA, SLOANEY
It was an emotional night for the Crows and their fans, who farewelled retiring champion Rory Sloane.
With Foo Fighters anthem ‘My hero’ echoing around the stadium, the much-loved 255-game veteran who wore the famed No.9 guernsey, did a lap of honour with his kids before the game, with fans giving him a standing ovation in the ninth minute of the first quarter.One
“It’s quite overwhelming,” Sloane said on the ground.
“Some of my greatest memories have been over the last 16 year, and some of the hardest ones, too, but these fans have supported me all the way and I can’t thank them enough.
“I love this club more than you could possibly imagine.
“I’m gonna miss this feeling … thank you all so much.”
SCOREBOARD
CROWS 5.0 7.2 9.4 12.6 (78)
POWER 3.4 3.7 4.11 5.18 (48)
PHELAN’S BEST CROWS: Soligo (Showdown medal), Crouch, Dawson, Laird, Worrell, Keane, Butts. POWER: Butters, Bergman, Wines, Horne-Francis, Sweet, Houston, Boak.
GOALS CROWS: Rankine 3, Walker 2, Fogarty 2, Sholl, Rachele, McHenry, Keays, Cook. POWER: Horne-Francis 2, Rioli, Marshall, Dixon.
INJURIES CROWS: Nil POWER: Rozee (hamstring), Georgiades (knee), Marshall (ankle).
UMPIRES Stevic, Fisher, Foot, Deboy.
52,106 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Soligo (Adel)
2 Crouch (Adel)
1 Butters (Port)
