A SHOWDOWN will be played to open the SANFL season for the first time with a Friday twilight blockbuster to be played at Adelaide Oval.

The SANFL has released the opening round of the 2022 Hostplus SANFL League fixture, which sees Port Adelaide taking on the Crows at 4:10pm on Friday 1 April.

The game will be played as a curtain raiser to the Friday night AFL Round 3 Showdown at Adelaide Oval.

Port Adelaide currently has a 9-6 win-loss advantage in SANFL Showdowns but last season’s matches were tight contests and split between the sides with the Magpies winning the round six encounter by 14 points and the Crows claiming the round 16 clash by 13 points.

Port Adelaide SANFL coach Matthew Lokan was looking forward to opening the season with a huge game.

“It is really exciting for us as a group to kick off the season with a game against the Crows,” Lokan said.

“We all know the rivalry and we saw how close the games between the sides were last season so we’d expect to see something similar again.

“The other bonus is that our young side will get more exposure to playing at Adelaide Oval where finals are played. We’d expect a good crowd on a Friday evening and a fantastic atmosphere ahead of the AFL Showdown.”

The other Round 1 fixtures will see South Adelaide hosting Central District, Norwood travelling to Glenelg, the Eagles and North Adelaide doing battle at Woodville Oval and West Adelaide hosting Sturt in a Saturday night game.

The SANFL on Tuesday night confirmed Port Adelaide’s Round 7 match would be played a Loxton against West Adelaide in a game in honour of the late Russell Ebert.

The remaining SANFL fixtures are expected to be confirmed on Thursday.

SANFL Round 1

Friday 1 April, 2022 – 4:10pm

Adelaide v Port Adelaide

Adelaide Oval