MONDAY Night Football.
It is an American thing, the creation of Roone Arledge, one of US television's more adventurous programming executives who in 1970 gave the NFL its first premier stand-alone timeslot. It also became part of American culture, not just football.
As for the AFL, the Australian game found its premier place on the calendar at the start of a weekend rather than at the end - with Friday Night Football from 1987 (with North Melbourne's creative ambitions) proving a success on television ratings and at the turnstiles. (Three decades on, the questions about floodlighting and yellow footballs are gone).
Port Adelaide is back on Monday Night Football, for just the second time in the club's AFL adventure - and first time for AFL premiership points at Adelaide Oval.
For television - at a time when AFL broadcaster Channel Seven was expecting to be juggling football with the Olympics from Tokyo - the Port Adelaide-Western Bulldogs match-up sits well on the schedule. It marks one of those rare times when two less glamorous AFL clubs will draw attention behind their own supporter bases.
Port Adelaide is leading the AFL competition - and still being judged against the "real deal" question. The Western Bulldogs were considered a top-four contender at the start of the season - and have, from the season-opening 52-point loss to Collingwood, shown a staggering gap between their best and worst.
And both clubs have stand-out players worth watching for their own part in deciding a football match.
But back to the Monday Night Football timeslot. There was a moment - on the eve of expansion to the 18-team competition with Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney in 2011-2012 - that Monday night seemed an option.
Instead, the AFL - and Fox Footy - created Sunday twilight with Gillon McLachlan, before rising to the AFL chief executive office, noting: "We need to make sure the weekends aren't too long and that we're not playing Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday every week ... I don't know that's sustainable."
The "Festival of Football" - 33 games in 20 days - has Port Adelaide's four games on Thursday night (the win against Melbourne at the Gabba in Brisbane), Monday night (with the Western Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval), Saturday night (against 2019 AFL premier Richmond in the fans' most-appreciated timeslot) and Friday night (against Geelong on the road to Queensland again).
Such a block of match-ups and timeslots would have once made for fascinating insights on attendances, particularly at Adelaide Oval (now in its seventh year since the $535 million refit).
But with COVID restrictions - and the limit on entry to Adelaide Oval on a slide rule depending on the verdicts of SA Health and the Stadium Management Authority - there is no read on crowd figures this season. For the first time since Australian football became an organised sport - with the launch of the SAFA in Adelaide and VFA in Melbourne in 1877 - the focus on the turnstiles is lost (and empathy flows to fans of Victorian-based clubs such as the Western Bulldogs who can only get their fix in front of a television; they cannot even travel from their Melbourne homes).
This year, it is about the show (rather than the sideshows). And the AFL would hope its second call on Port Adelaide to play Monday Night Football is as good as the first in 2006.
Port Adelaide's commitment to honouring the Australian Defence Forces and the Anzac legend put the club on the Monday night stage with the Anzac Round. The opponent was St Kilda, in a rivalry that lived off the epic 2004 preliminary final that was decided by six points in Port Adelaide's favour. And this encounter did not fail the 32,188 who did go to Football Park - or the hundreds of thousands in a national television audience.
Port Adelaide won by four points - 19.8 (122) to 18.10 (118). The notable points from the dramatic match were:
JOSH MAHONEY kicked six straight - the Port Adelaide goalsneak had the first of the game in the second minute; he had three of his six after 17 minutes and he kicked Port Adelaide's last in the 20th minute of the final term to set up an 11-point buff that required heavy defending.
CHAD CORNES had a team-high 31 disposals.
BRENDON LADE was dominant as Port Adelaide's lone ruckman after Dean Brogan was out of the game - and on his way to hospital - with broken ribs and a punctured lung after winning one tap.
ST KILDA wiped out Port Adelaide's 24-point lead at half-time with four unanswered goals in the first seven minutes of the third term.
For the record, Port Adelaide's other firsts in AFL away from the weekend timeslots have been:
FRIDAY NIGHT: v Melbourne for a 51-point win in front of 32,958 at Football Park in round 9, 1997.
THURSDAY NIGHT: v Essendon in the season opener in 2000 to mark the opening of the AFL's first indoor arena, then known as Colonial Stadium.
ROUND 10
Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs
DOES Port Adelaide owe one to the Western Bulldogs ...? Or do they owe it to themselves to play in the present rather than settle an old score?
"Can't we have both?," someone might respond.
More than 13 months have passed since Port Adelaide (immediately after toppling the league-leading Geelong) hosted the 15th-ranked Western Bulldogs at the hailed-drenched Adelaide Oval - and fell by 25 points while Marcus Bontempelli broke off two tags (from Ollie Wines and Willem Drew) to start the Victorian club's revival.
The inevitable line was: "Port Adelaide is not be trusted" - a theme that carried on through the second half of the season (in which the Western Bulldogs grafted their way into the final eight at Port Adelaide's expense).
More than a year on, the memory might stick with a few Port Adelaide players ... as does the scoreline in which 5.11 (41) marked Port Adelaide's lowest score in 30 AFL games against the Western Bulldogs.
There are more lingering questions as to which Western Bulldogs team arrives at Adelaide Oval to deal with the fall-out of their 41-point loss to Richmond in the opening game of the "Festival of Football".
By the numbers - and as a reflection of how varied performances the Western Bulldogs have submitted this season - Port Adelaide has its opponent covered in all the meaningful categories. The Champion Data figures note the Western Bulldogs prefer to handball more often than Port Adelaide; there is a marginal advantage at clearances for Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs run more while Port Adelaide works harder at creating pressure in its forward-50 arc.
That pressure - described by Port Adelaide defender Sam Mayes during the win against Melbourne as "unreal" - is a critical theme to unsettling the inconsistent Western Bulldogs, as noted by how their players' disposal efficiency falls significantly when challenged.
Midfield v midfield begins with the match-up between two young ruckmen, Peter Ladhams (Port Adelaide) v rising star Tim English (Western Bulldogs) while Port Adelaide lead ruckman Scott Lycett stays on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Last time, Port Adelaide worked both Lycett and Ladhams against English and (the currently injured) Aaron Naughton - and dominated the hit-outs 61-18 with Lycett taking 43.
But Bontempelli ruled with nine clearances.
Bontempelli, Caleb Daniel, the in-form Jack Macrae and the return from injury of Josh Dunkley working against Wines, the in-form Travis Boak after his 32nd birthday, Tom Rockliff and Robbie Gray.
Dunkley resumes for the Western Bulldogs after being put in the medical rooms after round 3 with ankle syndesmosis - and is being asked by coach Luke Beveridge to join Bontempelli in setting the example.
"'Dunks' is a really consistent player who continues to apply himself; he's a shining example within our four walls of what we're after," Beveridge said. "He does everything right in the game - he works his backside off and he reads the game really early; he's strong and hard in tight.
The Western Bulldogs will wear black armbands of former player David Darcy, who will be remembered as a Port Adelaide rival when he coached South Adelaide in the early 1970s and in admiring Port Adelaide while a television commentator with Channel Nine in Adelaide.
IT'S AUGUST
AUGUST traditionally marks the final month of the 22-round home-and-away season. The final eight is shaped. Teams chase consistency and a string of wins to enter September's major round with confidence and credibility.
This August is different. The "home-and-away" season is just hitting round 10.
Port Adelaide's last perfect August was in the club's AFL premiership season of 2004. There were wins against Melbourne (by 73 points at Football Park), the Western Bulldogs (by 86 points in Darwin), Collingwood (by 37 points at the MCG) and Adelaide (by 25 points at Football Park) before Port Adelaide opened the September finals by beating Geelong by 55 points at Football Park in the qualifying final.
Port Adelaide also was perfect in August 2002 and 2003 winning five consecutive matches in each season and August 2001 with four successive wins.
This August still has uncertainty on the fixture.
SELECTION TABLE
Port Adelaide
A NEW name is added to the roll call of Port Adelaide AFL players - rookie-listed small forward Boyd Woodcock. The 2018 AFL draftee (No. 76) - who slipped to the rookie list during the summer - is part of two changes from the 22-man line-up that convincingly beat Melbourne on Thursday night.
"He really works hard," coach Ken Hinkley said of Woodcock. "He is prepared to do anything for the team - a hard-working small forward who does whatever we need."
Woodcock, 20, and key defender Trent McKenzie, who missed two games with back spasms, join the 22 to play the Western Bulldogs.
They replace defender Jarrod Lienert, who is dropped after one match, and the experienced Brad Ebert, who developed concussion-like symptoms on the return flight from Brisbane.
Experienced ruckman Scott Lycett (knee) is kept on the sidelines for the third consecutive game to set up a duel between two young ruckmen, Peter Ladhams (Port Adelaide) and Tim English (Western Bulldogs).
In: McKenzie, Woodcock
Out: Ebert (concussion), Lienert
Western Bulldogs
THREE changes at The Kennel, only one forced, in reaction to the 41-point loss to the AFL premier - and no return to Adelaide Oval of former Port Adelaide defender-ruckman Jackson Trengove.
Coach Luke Beveridge has boosted his midfield by regaining Josh Dunkley from injury and recalled novice small forward Cody Weightman and defender-midfielder Roarke Smith for his first AFL game this season. Weightman, the No. 15 pick in last year's national draft, made his AFL debut in round 7 against Essendon and was dropped for the round 9 clash with Richmond on Wednesday.
Trengove, Billy Gowers and the injured Matthew Suckling (hamstring) fall out of the 22.
In: Dunkley, Smith, Weightman
Out: Gowers, Suckling (hamstring), Trengove
BIRD SEED
(the little stuff that counts most)
Where: Adelaide Oval
When: Monday, August 3
Time: 6.40pm (SA time)
Last time: Port Adelaide 5.11 (41) lost to Western Bulldogs 10.6 (66) at Adelaide Oval, round 15, June 29 last year
Overall: Port Adelaide 16, Western Bulldogs 14
Past five games (most recent first): L W W W L
Scoring average: Port Adelaide 97, Western Bulldogs 96
Tightest margin - Port Adelaide by 12 points (94-82) at Princes Park, round 12, June 14, 1997; Western Bulldogs by three points (100-97) at Adelaide Oval, round 12, June 11, 2016.
Biggest margin - Port Adelaide by 86 points (147-61) at Marrara Oval, Darwin round 20, August 14, 2004; Western Bulldogs by 93 points (137-44) at Marrara Oval, round 12, June 13, 2009.
By venues - Adelaide Oval (3-2), Football Park (6-3), Princes Park (1-1), Dockands (2-4), Eureka Stadium, Ballarat (2-0), Marrara Oval (2-4).
By States and Territories - South Australia (9-5), Victoria (5-5), Northern Territory (2-4).
FORM LINES
Port Adelaide
W L W W L W W W W
JUST two losses - and each one drawing an immediate response with telling notes. After failing on the return to home at Adelaide Oval against St Kilda, the 51-point win against Melbourne at the Gabba on Thursday night cleared away some doubts about the strength of the Port Adelaide midfield - and reaffirmed there is more to Ken Hinkley's playbook than in previous seasons. "We wanted to find our run again," said defence coach Brett Montgomery, "and we've got huge belief about the amount of run we do have; (and) the ability to play a nice, fast high-octane game."
Western Bulldogs
L W W L W W W L L
BAD start, solid recovery, a touch of inconsistency since. The Western Bulldogs' form line tells of a team that is capable of backing up last year's top-eight finish - and doing better. But just when the signs are good, the results do not follow.
After opening with a 52-point loss to Collingwood on March 20, the Western Bulldogs were just as disappointing at the restart with a 39-point loss to St Kilda on June 14. The response was a three-game winning streak against Greater Western Sydney (24 points), Sydney (28) and North Melbourne (49). In the past month, the Western Bulldogs have run at 2-2 - beating Essendon (42 points) and Gold Coast (five) in successive games, but losing to Carlton (52) and Richmond (41).
BARKING DOGS
Port Adelaide has one of its heroes - Jackson Trengove, a man who stood firm in his commitment during the club's darkest hours in 2011-2012 - in the Western Bulldogs kennel. Trengove played 153 AFL games with Port Adelaide from 2010-2017, after which he took the fee agency path to the Western Bulldogs.
The most-famous trade between the clubs unfolded during the 1999 exchange period when Port Adelaide gained future premiership defender Brett Montgomery from the Western Bulldogs while releasing Nathan Eagleton. Montgomery played 126 AFL matches with Port Adelaide from 2000-2005 before returning to the Western Bulldogs - and put his name in gold letters on the honour board at Alberton as the John Cahill Medallist in 2000 and at AFL House as an All-Australian in 2002.
Montgomery returned to Alberton at the end of 2018 to join Ken Hinkley's coaching staff after adding to his resume at Carlton, the Western Bulldogs and Greater Western Sydney.
The most-remembered moment in Port Adelaide-Western Bulldogs off-field moments was during the start-up of Port Adelaide's AFL squad for 1997. Despite every lure to Alberton, Western Bulldogs champion Chris Grant stayed at Whitten Oval - famously honouring the appeal of a young fan who broke his piggy bank to hand 20 cents to Grant.
QUOTE OF THE PRE-GAME
"Our boys have done an inconsistent job over the course of the year inside out."
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, sounding the alarm on a possible rebound from his team after opening the "Festival of Football" with a 41-point loss to AFL premier Richmond.
TIP
Port Adelaide by 17 points
