Brayden Cook’s sizzling goal on the burst with just 10 seconds remaining has delivered Adelaide a breathless one-point win over Port Adelaide in one of the greatest Showdowns in the storied rivalry’s history.
The Power had looked home when Joe Berry snapped truly with 46 seconds on the clock, after Wayne Milera’s equally magnificent goal at the other end was contentiously overturned when Josh Rachele was called for a push in the back on Logan Evans in the goal square while shepherding the ball through.
The SA derby was described during the week by long-serving former Power coach Ken Hinkley as “the greatest rivalry in Australian sport outside of when Australia play England in the Ashes”. Friday night’s edition lived up to Hinkley’s billing.
This Insta-classic had everything – a titanic finish, a splash of controversy, two key injuries and a goal of the year contender from Izak Rankine.
It was played under warm skies and in front of a heaving crowd of 53,045 – the seventh-biggest for an AFL game at Adelaide Oval and the third-most for a Showdown.
It wasn’t Adelaide’s most commanding win over their arch-enemy. But it sure ranks among their most gritty.
The Crows were already without captain Jordan Dawson (personal reasons) during the week, before losing former skipper Taylor Walker before quarter-time with a hamstring injury.
Key backman Jordon Butts, the man tasked with the Mitch Georgiades job, followed with a groin concern, his night ending late in the third term.
Unsung third-gamer Nick Murray slotted the first two goals of his AFL career – the first a memorable finish from the scoreboard pocket – inside the last 67 seconds of the third term to give Adelaide their first lead since the opening stages.
The Crows booted five unanswered either side of three-quarter-time, streaking ahead by 21 points on Riley Thilthorpe’s left-foot curler – after Adelaide had trailed for the best part of three quarters.
Sam Berry tackled like a man possessed, taking out the Showdown Medal for his lion-hearted efforts in the middle. Milera controlled play behind the ball, while Rankine and Josh Rachele produced dashes of magic.
Zak Butters, best-afield in the first half, was relatively becalmed after the break. The Crows, after banging on the door, were suddenly winning at the coalface handsomely. Port looked gone. Then suddenly they weren’t.
Three goals in a row to Georgiades, Joe Berry and Jack Whitlock slashed the deficit to two points.
The silky-skilled Cook turned up the heat just in the nick of time for the finest moment of his emerging career, one that will be forever etched into Showdown folklore.
