Crows State League coach Heath Younie says his young charges are eager to test themselves against an in-form Port Adelaide Magpies in Sunday’s SANFL Showdown at Clare Oval.

After a historic first victory over Central District in Round Three, the SANFL Crows fell by 37-points to Glenelg in a disappointing performance last Friday night.

The Magpies, meanwhile, have won their last three games by an average of 89 points and sit second on the SANFL table after dismantling West Adelaide at Alberton last Saturday.

Younie said his players were excited by the challenge that lay ahead in the Mid-North against Port Adelaide.

“We’ve watched a couple of tapes of them,” Younie said.

“They have been fantastic. We’ll be looking for our midfield to put on a competitive showing this week.

“But we’ve got to remember a lot of our guys are 18 or 19-year-old kids. It’s a huge effort for guys to come into our system and play league footy right away when most of them haven’t experienced that before.

“We’ll go in with the way we want to play and hopefully that’s going to be good enough to put on a competitive showing against them.”

The successful return of Taylor Walker was the major positive to come out of Adelaide’s clash with the Tigers last week, with the powerful forward slotting three goals in three quarters of football in his first game in almost a year.

Younie said the addition of Walker made a noted difference to his team’s potency up forward, but said the Club was yet to make a decision on where the 24-year-old would play this weekend.

“No doubt his name will be talked about in match committee,” Younie said of Walker.

“He’s a great leader. He played a role (last week against Glenelg) but he also helped with our young kids where to set up and for them it was an invaluable experience.

“He did recover well, he’s trained this week and we had our main session this morning.

“If the coaches feel he’s ready (for AFL), he’ll be ready. But if not he’ll have another one in the SANFL.”

Adelaide’s decision to stage the Club’s only SANFL home game of the season at Clare marks a tribute to the town following the tragic death of six-year-old local boy Max Redden late last year.

 “The big thing is to go into the regional town of Clare for our home game to support the Reddens,” Younie said.

“It’s about trying to give something back to the town that supported them through a tragic time.

“It’s fantastic, hopefully they get a huge crowd and both clubs can put on a good display.”

Traditional country rivals North Clare and South Clare will play in the curtain-raiser at 11am (gates open at 10.30am).

“You talk about rivalries, that might be a bigger one than ours this weekend,” Younie said.

“I’m looking forward to getting up there and watching those guys go at it.”

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