AFTER 49 Showdowns, there is enough data to test the theory that the South Australian derby ignores the premiership table, the form guide and the betting boards. Fact or fiction?

Showdown L marks the fourth derby in which Port Adelaide and Adelaide are at extremes on the AFL ladder. The results from the previous three do make the bookmakers appear to be ignoring the tradition of the Showdown by offering miserly odds on Port Adelaide while listing Adelaide as a 7/1 underdog.

Showdown XVI, 2004: Port Adelaide ranked first, Adelaide 12th. Port Adelaide won by 25 points.

Showdown XXXV, 2013: Port Adelaide eighth, Adelaide 12th. Port Adelaide won the last derby at Football Park by four points - needing the miraculous goal by Angus Monfries to avoid an unexpected defeat.

Showdown XXXVII, 2014: Port Adelaide first, Adelaide 11th. Port Adelaide, after being held scoreless until time-on of the third term, faded to a 23-point loss (99-76) at Adelaide Oval.

Showdown L, 2021: Port Adelaide fourth, Adelaide 16th. And the expectation is a simple derby in which Port Adelaide stretches its current winning streak against Adelaide to four and its advantage in the Showdown ledger to 26-24.

Port Adelaide has won the past three derbies by 57, 75 and 49 points.

Port Adelaide's form is at an extreme difference to that of Adelaide - Port Adelaide has won six of its past seven matches; Adelaide is 2-5 across its past seven.

And so are the line-ups offering a stark contrast with Port Adelaide strengthened in attack by the return from injury of Showdown specialist Robbie Gray.

Most significant in this form equation is the style of football Port Adelaide is showing to command territory while locking the ball inside its forward half. While a heavy injury list recently has tested Port Adelaide's ability to imbed the new gameplan, the lead-up win against Greater Western Sydney highlighted the scoreboard power Ken Hinkley's team can gain from the forward-half wall.

"It has been a bit of a build for us from the start of the year," Hinkley said. "People were talking about how the game was being played - and we were playing slightly differently than some.

"We have had to challenge our defence to be able to come up to speed with our offence because we want to play the game; we don't want to slow the game down. We want to play it pretty quick. 

"To do that and get the front-of-centre game going you have to put some work into making sure that you catch up to your offence at times."

The contrasting states of the two derby team suggest Port Adelaide could command forward-half territory - and again hold Adelaide to Showdown record low scores after conceding just 5.8 in this year's first derby and 5.5 in last year's one-off Showdown.

Moving the ball into a potentially crowded inside-50 arc could be challenging, particularly with the intercept work of Adelaide defender Tom Doedee who has drawn attention from Port Adelaide forwards coach Nathan Bassett this week.

Port Adelaide last week used the new "stand rule" at marks to launch play-on moves - with handballs to team-mates running in free space to set up inside-50 entry kicks away from Greater Western Sydney's intercept defenders.

"Those opportunities have been there all year," Hinkley said. "We are just making the most of the introduction (of that rule)."

Port Adelaide's attack has benefitted from the stronger marking of All-Australian key forward Charlie Dixon, who - remarkably - has gained in the air by being slowed on the ground with battered legs.

"Charlie was running under the ball because he was impatient to get to the ball," Bassett said. "His sore leg has changed that."

And the battering of Dixon's legs has been eased by the return of Peter Ladhams to take Dixon's spot at centre ruck duels when lead ruckman Scott Lycett steps aside.

Port Adelaide will be at home at Adelaide Oval, but it will play before few friends while just 15,000 fans will be granted entry to Showdown L.

"I am pleased there is a crowd," said Hinkley who has had his team work inside an empty Marvel Stadium in Melbourne in the past two games. "I just would have liked some of our people to be there too. It is a Crows home Showdown ... and I bet I get plenty of advice at the right time."

Showdown L will mark the second derby for Miles Bergman, the teenager who was born after 10 derbies had been played at Football Park. They No. 14 pick from the 2019 AFL national draft appears a notable absentee from the 2021 Rising Star nomination field.

"He has had a great season," Hinkley said of Bergman's 18 matches in his debut year. "He has played all bar one game in a top-four side. He has done some really good stuff to maintain his position in the side for a young player particularly when you consider last year (he could not play in the SANFL by the COVID protocols). 

"He is an exciting young player. He has an enormous future. I am sure he will get enough recognition at the right time. And it would not surprise me if he is nominated in the next two to three weeks."

THE BIRD SEED

(the small details that count)

Showdown L

Adelaide v Port Adelaide, Adelaide Oval

When: Saturday, August 7, 2021

Time: 7.10pm

Last time: Port Adelaide 12.15 (87) d Adelaide 5.8 (38) at Adelaide Oval, round 8, May 8 this year.

Overall: Port Adelaide 25, Adelaide 24.

Past five games: From the most recent, W W W L L

Scoring averages: Port Adelaide 88, Adelaide 91 

Tightest margin: Three points, twice (Adelaide wins in Showdowns 39 and 45).

Biggest margin: Port Adelaide by 75 points in Showdown 48; Adelaide by 84 points in Showdown 43.

By the venue: Adelaide Oval, Port Adelaide 6, Adelaide 8; Football Park, Port Adelaide 19, Adelaide 16.

IT WAS not pretty but Port Adelaide strengthened its hold on a top-four position with a heart stopping come from behind win over crosstown rival Adelaide in Showdown L.

In a game that never reached any real heights, the Crows led for most of the night, before being overrun by an inaccurate Port Adelaide outfit at Adelaide Oval 7.13 (55) to 7.9 (51).

After a tumultuous week involving former Crows captain Taylor Walker receiving a six-week ban for a racist slur, the Crows were up for the fight in the early stages.

They had all the territory in a scrappy opening, only for Port to register the first goal of the game after Zak Butters was taken high inside 50. His long kick from a tough angle found its way home.

Elliot Himmelberg crumbed and snaped a goal for the Crows to give them the lead but with Aliir Aliir marshalling Port’s backline and both sides failing to make the most of some very gettable chances, it was Adelaide with a one-point advantage at the first change.

The Crows upped the pressure gauge in the second term and despite having the same number of inside 50s for the quarter, Port went goalless to Adelaide’s three goals – two of them in a three-minute period running into the open goal by Ned McHenry.

Port was getting little time on the ball and making poor decisions under the pressure, constantly turning it over at half forward and failing to add to its solitary goal – kept to its lowest half time score since a 1.3 effort against Fremantle in 2013.

It was a better opening to the third term by the away team with Mitch Georgiades marking and goaling on a rare occasion when the delivery to a forward inside 50 was good.

But he and ruckman Peter Ladhams would miss golden chances to pinch back the lead before Ben Keays went down the other end and took the margin out to 16 points.

Ollie Wines stood up with a strong mark and goal from a difficult angle before David McKay cancelled out his effort with a left footed snap.

Needing a spark, Connor Rozee provided it for Port, intercepting a Crows’ handpass and dishing off to Zak Butters into an open goal.

Brodie Smith was substituted out of the game late in the term after a head knock and defender Will Hammill joined him on the sideline early in the fourth after he collided with a teammate, allowing Orazio Fantasia to snap his first of the evening and bring Port to within four points.

Butts was stretchered off, causing a six-minute delay in proceedings and after 20 goalless minutes up stepped Sam Powell-Pepper with a snap that silenced the 15-thousand strong partisan Adelaide crowd.

When Charlie Dixon marked strongly in front of a big pack with about eight minutes to play and goaled, suddenly Port led by nine points.

Aliir continued to repel the Crows, with a game-high eleven marks across half back and with just minutes to play Tom Lynch bobbed up for a goal to put everyone on the edge of their seats for the final seconds.

But Port would hang tough to break the hearts of the Adelaide faithful. Aliir took home the Showdown Medal as a clear winner as Port took a share of top spot at least until the conclusion of Sunday’s games.

SCOREBOARD

PORT ADELAIDE            1.2      1.5        4.10     7.13   (55)             

ADELAIDE                     1.3      4.6         6.8       7.9  (51)              

Goals

Butters 2, Georgiades, Wines, Fantasia, Powell-Pepper, Dixon

Best

Aliir, Drew, Burton, Lycett, Wines, Rozee, Boak