The Crows pressed the minor premiers hard throughout the day before going down 12.13 (85) to 9.6 (60).
Tyson Edwards was the best for Adelaide with 19 disposals and two goals while
Warren Tredrea was awarded the West End medal for best-on-ground for his 21-possession, 11 mark and four-goal effort.
The match started in typical Showdown fashion with both sides applying maximum pressure around the ball and laying some big tackles in an effort to gain the upper hand in the very physical encounter.
Rhett Biglands’ terrific trap and snap quickly answered Toby Thurstans’ opening goal for Port with three minutes played but scoring proved difficult as the quarter progressed.
A fired-up Byron Pickett broke the deadlock with a goal at the sixteen-minute mark and Gavin Wanganeen and Tredrea followed up with majors of their own to open up a three-goal lead for Port.
Edwards’ long-range effort kept the Crows within striking distance but Domenic Cassisi ran into an open goal shortly before the siren to stretch the Power’s lead to 19 points at the first break.
Port Adelaide threatened to blow the game wide open in the second term – doing most of the attacking while the Crows hung on grimly.
Tredrea was proving a handful for the young Crows defence and broke free for two quick goals 10 minutes in to extend the Power lead to 33 points.
Adelaide hadn’t looked like scoring for much of the quarter but Simon Goodwin managed a goal against the run of play to give Crows’ fans some hope.
The margin was 28 points at half-time but Biglands soon pegged back another six points for the Crows when he converted after marking strongly on the goal line after the restart.
Adelaide looked to have lifted a notch but failed to capitalise and paid the price when Wanganeen swooped on a turnover to slot his second midway through the term.
The situation continued to worsen for the Crows as Trent Hentschel hobbled off the ground to join the already-injured duo of Matthew Clarke and Brent Reilly on the bench.
Tredrea added his fourth goal late in the quarter but Andrew McLeod put on a piece of trademark brilliance with a superb running goal to make the deficit 23 points at the last break.
The Crows came hard at the Power early in the final term but once again struggled to exert scoreboard pressure.
Tyson Stenglein made the difference three straight kicks with his first goal with seven minutes gone to raise hopes of a dramatic comeback.
However, Roger James effectively put an end to the Adelaide charge with the last goal of the match midway through the quarter.
James converted from 30 metres out after receiving a free kick from an incident that saw Adelaide’s Simon Goodwin reported for an alleged trip.
Adelaide coach Neil Craig was generally satisfied with his players' endeavours.
“I thought the effort we showed was commendable, well more than that, (after) losing three guys with injury (and) all those sorts of things,” he said.
“Out of the whole game just their ability to, basically, just will themselves to stay in the game. Really we were hanging by our fingernails at one stage.
"But that’s just been a continuation on, really, certainly since I’ve been involved with them.
"Do I expect that? Well, yes I guess I did expect that and once again they showed me they’ve got that fighting spirit which is pretty important for them as a group.”
ADELAIDE: 2.1, 4.2, 8.5, 9.6 (60)
PORT ADELAIDE: 5.2, 8.6, 11.10, 12.13 (85)
Goals: Adelaide: Biglands 2, Edwards 2, Stenglein, Goodwin, Perrie, McLeod, Ladhams Port Adelaide: Tredrea 4, Wanganeen 2, Thurstans 2, Cassisi, Pickett, Lade, James
Best: Adelaide: Edwards, Goodwin, Biglands, McLeod, Perrie, Ricciuto Port Adelaide: Tredrea, Carr, P Burgoyne, James, C Cornes, James
Injuries: Adelaide: Clarke (eye), Reilly (ankle), Hentschel (ankle)
Port Adelaide: Nil
Changes: Adelaide: Welsh (calf) replaced in selected side by Begley
Port Adelaide: Kingsley (adductor) replaced in selected side by Dew
Reports: Adelaide: Goodwin reported by umpire Roseworthy for allegedly tripping James
Umpires: Kennedy, Rosebury, Meredith
Crowd: 45,473 at AAMI Stadium
