Adelaide Senior Coach Matthew Nicks says winning crucial, key moments will prove to be the difference during Showdown 56 on Saturday night.
The Crows and the Power are preparing to face off for the second time this year and Adelaide is eyeing a fourth, consecutive victory against its crosstown rival.
Speaking at a joint coaches press conference on Friday, Nicks was expecting a hotly-contested match but believed his side was good enough to match it with the second-placed Power.
“We look forward to Showdowns,” Nicks said.
“We got some key moments right (in Showdown 55) and we know how crucial those key moments are.
“The Showdowns when we’ve met the past few times, we have done that in key moments and that’s the difference… (but) we know we’ve got our work cut out for us.
“We believe if we play our brand of footy it matches up well, but at the same time, you’ve got to be able to do that and that’s the challenge for us.”
The Crows are coming off a strong, 39-point win against the Western Bulldogs and made one change to the side, with veteran Taylor Walker out injured and Lachlan Gollant coming in.
Gollant enters the match off the back of an eight-goal haul in the Crows’ SANFL win against West Adelaide last week.
“Lachie’s been doing some great stuff throughout the year and there’s always unlucky players who sit in a position where they’re not necessarily getting the opportunities,” Nicks said.
“But we love what Lachie brings and he’s played Showdowns before and performed well, so we look forward to what he’s going to bring again.”
Adelaide and Port Adelaide will play off for the Variety Showdown Shield, thanks to Variety - the Children's Charity.
The Variety Showdown Shield will be presented at all Showdown matches for both the AFL and AFW contests, emphasising the Variety trademark of equality.
The design has the State at its heart as this unites all of us, regardless of team allegiance.
Variety - South Australia is the preeminent children’s charity in our state, supporting more than 200,000 children in the past three years alone.
It has also teamed up with the Adelaide Crows Foundation to enable more South Australian students to benefit from the Open Parachute program, focused on improving child and youth mental health.
The partnership means an additional 2000 disadvantaged South Australian students will be able to take part in the leading wellbeing program this year.
Adelaide takes on Port Adelaide in Showdown 56 at Adelaide Oval on Saturday at 7pm.
