HISTORY has a strange way of repeating itself in Australian football. Every game, every situation is new - yet lessons linger from matches already played, moments already lived.
Steven Motlop joined Port Adelaide during the end-of-2017 AFL trade period, opting to follow a family path to Alberton while valuing the merit of every other offer - including one from Adelaide.
Six months later, in his eighth senior match for Port Adelaide, Motlop kicked the winning goal at the northern end of Adelaide Oval in Showdown XLIV. Five points was the margin - and that match-winning kick was an instant dividend for the premium the Port Adelaide Football Club paid for Motlop's exit from Geelong as a free agent.
History repeats with Jordan Dawson at the same end of Adelaide Oval in Showdown LI, the first Friday night derby in the city. The "footy gods" clearly want to be seen as even handed.
Port Adelaide left the MCG on September 29, 2007 with premiership coach Mark Williams building hope. "Plenty of blue sky ahead," he maintained, believing the ambition and potential growth of his young squad would blow away the dark clouds that had fallen in with an AFL grand final that did not go to plan.
Port Adelaide lost the grand final re-match against Geelong in the season-opener at Football Park by six points. Brave but beaten - as it was in the round-one clash with Brisbane at the Gabba in this year's season-opener.
Round 2, 2008 brought a 68-point loss to Sydney at the SCG; round 2 this season was marked by a 64-point loss to Hawthorn at home at Adelaide Oval.
On entering the round 3 derby at Football Park with a 0-2 record, the six-point loss to Adelaide in Showdown XXIV brought into question how deeply the 2007 AFL grand final had scarred Port Adelaide's young crew at Alberton.
At 0-3 again, on the back of a four-point derby loss, has history re-loaded ... as noted with the television football inquests at the weekend questioning if Port Adelaide was "traumatised" by the home preliminary final loss to the Western Bulldogs six months ago?
Port Adelaide captain Tom Jonas gave this answer to the "trauma" question in the lead-up to the season: " At times we have the memory of a goldfish ...
"We acknowledge it (the preliminary final loss). It was very disappointing. But at the same time, I have had moments in my own career which have been just as challenging.
"I have acknowledged them, looked at what went wrong, what went right, what I could do better given another opportunity and moved on. I am still here today so obviously I am not doing it all wrong, there must be something going right.
"As a playing group, we have adopted that same mentality."
Is history repeating? Clearly, the preliminary final exposed some questions Port Adelaide needed to answer in the off-season. This included adding depth to the midfield that cannot expect former captain Travis Boak challenge American football sensation Tom Brady as the ironman of the Australian game.
In Showdown XXIV, in 2008, Port Adelaide had Boak in his 17th AFL match ...
In Showdown LI, 14 years later, Port Adelaide had Zak Butters (51), Connor Rozee (62), Willem Drew (37), Karl Amon (105) and Dan Houston (103) past their 50-game milestone ... much more blue sky than was on Mark Williams' radar.
So Port Adelaide has the talent to avoid a repeat of the darkest chapter in the club's AFL story.
During his decade as Port Adelaide coach, Ken Hinkley has repeatedly warned against valuing teams by the power of one player. But there are some realities about Port Adelaide without two key players - two All-Australians, two book ends - today.
Those who have wondered if Port Adelaide was too reliant on Charlie Dixon at the goalfront now have an answer.
Those who have marvelled at Aliir Aliir's work in the Port Adelaide defence since moving from Sydney at the end of Season 2020 - particularly with his intercept marks - are now dusting down their oft-repeated warning on the need for height in the back half of the team grid.
Showdowns are renowned for epic build-ups and just as dramatic aftermaths. In winning the derby 26 times, Port Adelaide has, more so than Adelaide, suffered the "letdown after the Showdown". Hence why the two clubs more than a decade ago appealed to the AFL to stop having the derby as the home-and-away season closer. Playing a "final" before the finals did not help either club (and the Round 23 Showdown is back this season, albeit with the pre-finals bye).
So what now?
There will be more chatter about the trauma of the preliminary final loss. The AFL is loaded with recent examples of teams that have been scarred in September - even this week's Thursday night opponent, Melbourne. Embarrassed by a preliminary final loss to West Coast at the new Perth Stadium in 2018 - with no goal scored by Melbourne during the first half - Melbourne was 0-3 at the start of 2019, a non-finalist for two years and defied the gloom with a drought-breaking premiership last season.
Christian Petracca was in his 63rd AFL match, Clayton Oliver in his 60th, Angus Brayshaw in his 58th, James Harmes in his 69th ...
There will be a look at the depth of the Port Adelaide list.
There will be questions about goal kicking accuracy. This season, Port Adelaide has scored a total of 30.37 with more goals than behinds in just one of three matches. Last year, 294.251 - with more goals than behinds in 14 of 24 matches. Goal kicking accuracy is the eternal challenge in this game of Australian football.
And there will be those who cling to anything, be it Tarot cards or even the AFL ladder predictor. On autofill, using the Champion Data analysis, the computer has Port Adelaide finishing seventh to play sixth-ranked St Kilda in an away elimination final in September.
That is history repeating again with 2005 coming to mind. The 2004 AFL premiership defence began with a 1-1-4 win-draw-loss record including a heavy Showdown defeat, a 11-1-10 count at the end of the home-and-away season and an 87-point win against North Melbourne in the elimination final at the west Melbourne Docklands.
It is all about staying in the fight.
