ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson believes his twin tower forwards Kurt Tippett and Taylor Walker could be the most damaging duo in the AFL, claiming they should be leading the race for the Coleman Medal.

Tippett sits two goals behind Travis Cloke, James Podsiadly and Eddie Betts (all 13 goals) on the goalkicking tally with 11 goals, but has kicked nine behinds.
 
Walker has booted nine goals, but has missed 13, including five last weekend against Greater Western Sydney.

"One goal five and one out of bounds on the full is not great reward for what was a pretty good game," Sanderson said of Walker's performance.
 
"Our two big forwards should be one and two in the Coleman, but they're not.
 
"The chemistry's really nice between them, it'd just be nice if they both kicked goals in the same round."
 
With the Crows' forward line set to play a big part in deciding Sunday's Showdown, Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus acknowledged the pair formed an imposing attack.
 
"[I] hope they get injured," Primus joked about the Adelaide targets.
 
But he backed key defender Alipate Carlile to hold his own against the in-form Tippett.
 
"I think Carlile, who will get the majority of the time on Tippett, has been outstanding," he said.

"He's played very well against [Michael] Hurley, he dominated [Ben] Reid, he played a good game on the weekend against [Travis] Cloke, he was good in round one against [Justin] Koschitzke."
 
Adelaide's smaller attacking options will be boosted by the return of Ian Callinan, who missed the clash against the Giants with a calf injury, while Jared Petrenko is fit after he was knocked out by teammate Jason Porplyzia in the opening seconds of the same match.

However the news wasn't so encouraging for the Power's attack, with Primus admitting the loss of Robbie Gray was a massive blow.

Primus had previously said the dangerous David Rodan was a similar player to Gray when in the middle, but he conceded on Friday that the fallen livewire was irreplaceable in the forward line.
 
"Robbie's unique, we don't have anyone who can do what he can do forward," Primus said.
 
"We can't go like-for-like with him."
 
Showdowns have historically produced some fiery affairs. Notably, Rod Jameson's punch-up with Port Adelaide forward Scott Cummings in the inaugural match, while Mark Bickley's infamous elbow to Darryl Wakelin saw the Crows' premiership captain suspended for five matches in 2002.
 
Primus said he "couldn't help it get carried away with the build-up" towards Sunday's Showdown and while Sanderson said he had asked his players to "embrace the rivalry", he agreed it had gone too far in the past.
 
"The highlights that I have seen there's been a lot of punch-ons, there's been a lot of melees," he said.
 
"Internally we've built the game up … it just makes you feel good when you can beat the home-town rivals.
 
"I think it'd be foolish for any of our boys to start swinging."
 
Harry Thring covers Adelaide and Port Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry