ONCE again, everyone knows where they stand in the great divide in South Australian football. You are Port Adelaide or you are the rest. Only this time, there will be women taking to the field to settle where the real pride of South Australia belongs.

AFLW Showdown I.

A new chapter opens in a long-standing football story that began long before Showdown I at Football Park in April 1997.

The build-up to the W version of Showdown I is vastly different to that of the first men's derby. So is the location - Adelaide Oval, under Friday night lights.

Port Adelaide, as in 1997, has Lauren Arnell's playing group loaded with young talent finding its way on a very big stage.

Adelaide, unlike 1997, is already proven after six seasons in the national women's league. Three flags ....

In 1997, Port Adelaide played Showdown I buoyed by the confidence of its first win in the AFL (a 39-point triumph against Geelong at Football Park). Adelaide was on a two-game losing streak.

In 2022, Port Adelaide hosts the first W Showdown with some harsh lessons taken from Bond University on the Gold Coast at the weekend. Adelaide is in solid form with four consecutive wins.

The premiership table has Adelaide in second spot, Port Adelaide at 14th.

But what is said of Showdowns? Forget form. Ignore the premiership table. Remember anything can happen when pride is on the line.

"Let's have the cards play out on the night. We are all excited about this opportunity. It is more about the excitement of this Showdown than anything else. The rivalry begins as soon as that ball goes up for the first bounce. We will go about this Showdown with really good spirits. I am just excited for the game. There is a real passion for this game. But we are also out there to be competitive."

Port Adelaide vice-captain Ange Foley

ALL ABOUT CONTEST

IF Port Adelaide is to ensure this herstory-making Showdown becomes memorable (as Showdown I remains from 1997), Lauren Arnell's side will need to be solid in its defining quality of contested football.

The barometer highlighted a major fall in contested football against Gold Coast - and it translated with pain on the scoreboard despite the strong efforts of Port Adelaide defenders Alex Ballard, Ebony O'Dea and Indy Tahau to block the Gold Coast forward sorties.

There was no question as to how the post-match review at Alberton Oval on Tuesday would unfold. 

"We did get beaten at the contest (by Gold Coast); the stats show that," said Port Adelaide vice-captain Ange Foley. "It is easy to see that. We have won that (contested-ball count) every other week this season. It is not that we don't have the physical capability to do it. We need to be switched on. 

"Physically, we are 100 per cent capable to beat any team in this competition. I strongly believe that. It is the mental edge - from inexperience - that we can tidy up really quickly to be very competitive on Friday night."

"We are excited about the footy we can play. We just have to put that into four quarters."

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

NO ONE gets a second chance to make a first impression.

As Port Adelaide AFL premiership hero Chad Cornes told Lauren Arnell's team on Tuesday night, the Showdown certainly is not the place for second thoughts.

"In Showdowns, you don't second guess. You just go. Just go," Cornes said.

"If you play well in these games, if you play tough, if you play the Port Adelaide way, the supporters will love you forever.

"Play together. Play tough."

There never will be a second chance to write the first chapter of AFLW Showdown history.

"You’ve got to bring your best game, every single time that you step on the field. We'll be looking to do that. And if we play hard, Port footy, we'll give it a real crack."

Port Adelaide captain Erin Phillips

OPPO WATCH

ADELAIDE is the defending champ - and on a four-game winning streak after dropping the grand final rematch against Melbourne at Glenelg Oval in the Season 7 opener.

It does have a soundly balanced team - and a fairly "keep it simple" playbook that takes advantage of a program that put Adelaide at the forefront of making its players physically stronger and sounder than AFLW rivals. And it has some extraordinary talent.

After a slow start - with some big last-quarter plays, particularly against Richmond - Adelaide put the competition on notice with the record-breaking 96-point win (97-1) against Greater Western Sydney at Unley Oval on Sunday.

Star midfielder Ebony Marinoff does not hide the anticipation that has been at West Lakes since AFLW Showdown I was confirmed.

"It has been in everyone's diaries since the fixture came out," Marinoff said.

And she does not deny there has been curiosity on how the new team in town plays, even if it has been challenging to watch Port Adelaide matches while Adelaide has been on the road or - as was the case at the weekend - playing immediately after a Port Adelaide game.

"I won't lie," Marinoff said. "We have been playing or travelling, so it has been difficult to watch too much. But a couple of the girls had it on the phone when we were in Melbourne going through the Chadstone shopping centre ...'

Adelaide coach Matthew Clarke has noted Port Adelaide "has been in all of their games" and "their tackle numbers are through the roof".

"They are No. 2 on differentials - and that is underpinning a really competitive brand," Clarke said. "Port Adelaide appears to be a kick-centric team. The predominant thing we have seen is their work at contest and tackling."

"They are playing Port Adelaide footy. As a South Australian, you know what that is like. I have watched Port Adelaide a lot over the years with the Showdowns or on TV. They are playing as you could only imagine they would. That is their brand. That is how they are wanting to play."

Crows midfielder Ebony Marinoff

IN THE MIDDLE

DAVID did beat Goliath. Youth often bites old warriors.

This Showdown is the proven quality of Adelaide's midfield with ruck Montana McKinnon loading up the ball-winning Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard against the ambition of Port Adelaide's basketball convert Olivia Levicki and the Rising Star teenagers Hannah Ewings and Abbey Dowrick, with the support cast led by Maria Moloney.

The biggest question mark on Port Adelaide's first AFLW match at Adelaide Oval is how Lauren Arnell's side handle the sense of occasion and the expectation.

"Every single game for Port Adelaide is very important. Every single time we turn up, we (have to) put our best foot forward," Arnell said. "The plan is to live up to the Showdown reputation. We have prepared as best we can - and we cannot wait to put our best foot forward for four quarters.

"This venue is amazing. Our group absolutely loves Adelaide Oval. The vibe is unreal.

"Our players are excited. The group is really excited. The young generation of footballers ... I played when COVID left us with no crowds; my team-mates really struggled with that. So, we think this is a fantastic opportunity to embrace what we know will be a wonderful atmosphere."

"I'm a competitor and I know everybody is and as soon as that ball goes up, it’s game on. I'm expecting an absolute fierce contest out there from both teams."

Port Adelaide captain Erin Phillips

FRIENDS AS FOES

LAST week, five Port Adelaide players returned to the Gold Coast - including former Suns’ captain Hannah Dunn - to face old friends as new foes.

This week, three Port Adelaide players - captain Erin Phillips, vice-captain Ange Foley and leadership group player Justine Mules - deal with having crossed the great divide in South Australian football in a way that has never been seen in the AFL rivalry.

All three left a legacy at the neighbourhood rival's story in AFLW.

All three have a heritage to advance at Alberton.

Adelaide coach Matthew Clarke has noted Port Adelaide captain Erin Phillips "is doing what she does."

"She is playing a little bit of midfield and a little bit forward," Clarke said. "Generally, with those type of players you need to have two plans. And we will. Erin is a significant player."

The great watch during Showdown I will be for the clash of the captains - Phillips and Chelsea Randall, mates as rivals.

"Chelsea plays everywhere, so they will cross paths," Clarke said. "They are both fierce competitors. They both will be desperate to win this game - and they will do whatever they can to get their team over the line. That will be an interesting match-up."

"We have not played yet - and the rivalry exists. Two clubs in one town - and only one gets to be on top (in the Showdown stakes)."

Adelaide coach Matthew Clarke

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"I would just do anything - and we as a team would do anything - to make sure we did our supporters and our club proud. I've seen already (the AFLW side) do the same. Do it consistently Friday night and you will get the job done. The Showdown wins that I have been in outdo the grand final in terms of what they meant to us as a team. The feelings on the ground after a win ... in the changerooms ... coming back to the club. Walking in after a Showdown win - the way the supporters get around you and love you because you won the Showdown playing the Port Adelaide way. It is something I will never forget.

"In 2006 - when we were the younger team, one of the youngest in the AFL - we beat a team that was then top in a Showdown. What that did for us cannot be understated. So, Showdowns mean more to me than any other game I have played. The (2004) premiership was brilliant. It is what you play footy for. But when I am asked about my memories, I go straight to the Showdowns. People say you don't build rivalries ... well, at Port Adelaide we do."

Port Adelaide premiership hero Chad Cornes

BIRD SEED

(little stuff that means most)

PORT ADELAIDE v ADELAIDE

When: Friday, September 30, 2022

Time: 7.30pm

Where: Adelaide Oval

First meeting of the teams

On the ladder - Port Adelaide 1-1-3, ranked 14th. Adelaide, 1-4, ranked second.

In some ways - but certainly not as dramatic as the evolution of the men's game in South Australia in 1990 - history did find its sequel with the AFLW in Adelaide.

Port Adelaide moved first, notably signing Olympian Erin Phillips to be the club's first AFLW player in December 2015 - well before the AFL Commission had endorsed or confirmed how the national women's league would open after AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan advanced the start date from 2020 to 2017.

The AFL initially felt there should be no foundation AFLW licence in Adelaide out of concern for the depth of talent with women's football in South Australia.

Port Adelaide put its attention toward China, a key strategy that has allowed for financial growth to underwrite many football programs at Alberton.

Adelaide found a partnership with the NT to develop its inaugural squad for the initial eight-team AFLW.

Adelaide is the pacesetter of AFLW with three flags, four grand final appearances and the chance to win two AFLW titles in the same calendar year.

Last weekend: Port Adelaide made a poor start and strong finish against Gold Coast, losing by 14 points at Bond University in south-east Queensland. Adelaide rewrote the AFLW record books with a 96-point thrashing of Greater Western Sydney at Unley.

Form lines - Port Adelaide, LLDWL (losing to West Coast by 12 points, losing to the Western Bulldogs by 19 points, tying with Carlton, beating Sydney by 66 points and losing to Gold Coast by 14 points on the road); Adelaide, LWWWW (losing the grand final rematch at home to Melbourne by 18 points and has a four-game winning streak made up of triumphs against Richmond by nine points, North Melbourne by 14, Collingwood by five and the 97-1 trouncing of Greater Western Sydney at the weekend).

TIME does make a difference. Port Adelaide handed the first Showdown honours in the AFLW to its neighbourhood rival with the Adelaide Oval scoreboard recording a one-sided derby with the well-established Adelaide.

The 60-point loss - on a night when the greatest rivalry in Australian football gained a new storyline in the perfect floodlit setting of the Oval - tells much of the growing pains of the AFLW ... and the agony the Australian game put on itself by denying young women for so long the pathway from junior to elite football.

Adelaide took advantage of all the experiences gained (and hard earned) as a foundation team from the first AFLW season in 2017.

Port Adelaide takes from this derby another reminder that spirit and ambition alone will not overcome the challenges of being one of the last four entries to the 18-team national women's league.

The hope of history repeating to make the Port Adelaide "herstory" tell of a first-up Showdown win - as there was in the AFL at Football Park in April 1997 - was shot very early when Adelaide dictated terms at clearances, commanded the Sherrin more often and used it with greater purpose.

But really that hope of history folding into "herstory" at Alberton was probably wishful thinking considering the differing realities of how the first Showdowns unfolded, 25 years apart.   

In 1997, Port Adelaide made up for the seven years of waiting to settle the score with the team that pocketed its place in the AFL with a team (on and off the field) that had developed in the SANFL - and had the hallmarks from more than a century of young men nurturing their skills and evolving the game.

In 2022, Lauren Arnell's "Inaugurals" had very little of this legacy. They are making up lost ground with novices - and the gap was notable against a unit that has celebrated three AFLW titles in six years and remains a league pacesetter.

No-one will label the Port Adelaide players as "overawed" by the occasion of the first AFLW derby at Adelaide Oval. But there were moments - particularly in the second term - when Port Adelaide was "overwhelmed" by Adelaide's superiority at clearances and in a sound kicking game to create set shots inside-50.

No-one will say the Port Adelaide players - in particular Jacqui Yorston - stopped trying to make the Showdown turn their way.

But everyone will have to acknowledge the difference six years - rather than four months - makes to building an AFLW team. 

For the first time in six AFLW games, Port Adelaide finished without a goalscorer with Kate Surman left with a shot after the final siren that, at 40 metres from the southern goal, was beyond her kicking range.

Adelaide's early dominance at centre clearances - that lived up to its AFLW No. 1 ranking - brought greater attention to the match-ups in the midfield, particularly at centre bounces. The pairing of manic Port Adelaide defender Ebony O'Dea against Adelaide possession master Ebony Marinoff became the "showdown within the Showdown".

Adelaide had the significant upper hand at stoppages where Marinoff and Anne Hatchard continued their tandem of dominance.

The numbers were brutal and, for a change, the statistics were not misleading nor irrelevant.

At quarter-time, Adelaide led the clearances 7-2 - and had a 14-point edge on the scoreboard.

At half-time, the theme was even stronger. Adelaide dominated the clearances 9-3 during the term - and had a 37-2 count on the scoreboard.

At the end of the third term, Adelaide led the clearance count 23-9 and the match by 50 points- and had put together 10 consecutive runs to the forward-50 arc while not letting Port Adelaide inside its own forward zone until the final minutes when Ange Foley scored Port Adelaide's third behind, after the siren.

At the finish, Adelaide had a 3:1 advantage on the clearances (33-11). This generated a 40-16 edge on inside-50s. And there is no hiding from the final count on contested possessions (111-80). 

These figures are not signals of a "trend" but mark the critical difference in the games played by two vastly different teams.

By controlling how the resets unfolded, Adelaide connected from stoppage to its outside runners and to the goalfront.

By being forced into the turnover game with its trademark strong tackling and pressure game, Port Adelaide was often dealing with limited space in which to put together a meaningful passage to the goalfront.

And the scoreboard tells the story - Port Adelaide 0.3 to 8.15.

Showdowns, as Port Adelaide 2004 AFL premiership hero Chad Cornes told Arnell's "Inaugurals" during the week, are about first instincts and no second guessing. Port Adelaide certainly was in "chaos ball" mode with quick entries to the forward 50 at the Oval's northern end in the first term. There can be a fine line between speed and haste, as Port Adelaide vice-captain Ange Foley noted by saying: "We are being hard at the contest, but we need to take a breath ... we need composure."

It was hasty football early when Jade de Melo found herself on the end of two goalscoring chances created by Phillips. The first was smothered; the second finished on those goal posts that have tormented Port Adelaide all year.

Both teams closed the first term with seven inside-50s - and Adelaide scored from six, gaining a 14-point lead at quarter-time. The AFLW premier had a different approach to its forward-50 entries, preferring to pin-point options that were claimed with six marks in the forward arc.

Again, Port Adelaide defender Alex Ballard was the ultimate "goalkeeper" with the 19-year-old's holding firm against repetitive inside-50 sorties from Adelaide's winning midfield. Ballard's intercept marks, particularly deep in defence, continued the theme she mastered at Bond University five days earlier against Gold Coast.

The battle between two great mates cast as rival captains - Phillips and Chelsea Randall - began with the Adelaide captain winning the toss to take possession of the River Torrens end for the first term.

It was Randall's night. She fittingly earned the first Showdown Medal. She scored Adelaide's first two goals. She set the agenda for her team to live up to its status as the AFLW champion.

Phillips now has the task of using her experiences across the AFLW, international sport as an Olympian and professional basketballer to fast track a team trying to make up six years on the AFLW pacesetters. Time does make a difference ... 

The emotional bridges keep presenting for Phillips, Foley and Mules as Port Adelaide's inaugural AFLW season enters its seventh week of a 10-game home-and-away series. On Saturday, the pioneer trio meet their first AFLW premiership coach - Bec Goddard - as a rival at Frankston with the clash against fellow Season 7 new entry, Hawthorn which has put together consecutive wins in the past fortnight.

PORT ADELAIDE v ADELAIDE

PORT ADELAIDE    0.2    0.2    0.3   0.3 (3)

ADELAIDE         2.4    5.7    7.11  8.15 (63)

BEST - Port Adelaide: Ballard, Phillips, Yorston, Foley, Dunn, O'Dea.

GOALS - Port Adelaide: None.

INJURY - Nil.

CROWD: TBC at Adelaide Oval

SHOWDOWN MEDALLIST: Chelsea Randall (Adelaide).

NEXT: Hawthorn at Frankston, Saturday 6.40pm.