WE are the centre of the Australian football universe this week. South Australia will host all 18 AFL clubs and be the stage for all nine national league matches of the fifth series of the longest-ever (23-game) minor round.

Never before - not even during the COVID pandemic hubs in Queensland - have all of the national league's clubs been in one place at the same time. The old 12-club VFL did in 1952 - as the AFL is doing this week - add an extra series (the eighth weekend that season) for "National Day Round" with every match played outside of Melbourne and Geelong. The travel log included Brisbane, Sydney, North Hobart, Albury, Yallourn and Euroa.

This time it is "Gather Round" with matches at Adelaide Oval, Norwood and Mount Barker.

National Day Round did not have a sequel, although the VFL - banned by State law from staging league matches in Melbourne on Sundays - did test the television market with two Sunday games at the SCG in 1979.

Gather Round is expected to have many sequels. It will be the festival of football the AFL will seek - and need - in other markets, particularly if other State governments follow South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas' lead in spending a dollar to make many more from tourism opportunities, high occupancy rates in hotels and a bump in GST collections.

And as "gather" means much more than just "coming together", the historic event in Australian football will inevitably move on from South Australia after this State takes all the risk with a new product and delivers a fruitful result. 

It was that way with the Formula One Grand Prix race that is now in Melbourne. There also is that black-and-white striped jumper the South Australian team wore for intercolonial matches during the late 1800s before it became part of the VFL livery at Collingwood. And with Tom Quinn, Craig Bradley, Nathan Buckley from Alberton to Victoria with no return ...

But there is one South Australian football event the Victorians will not get: Showdowns.

Leading AFL commentator Damian Barrett's wish for the South Australian derby to be transferred to the MCG or the Docklands so that a Victorian audience can appreciate the beauty of the football contest in the Showdown is more than a compliment. It is confirmation that the South Australian derby has become one of the great rivalries in Australian sport.

But it should not be sent to Melbourne to authenticate its merit - and it will not while State legislation holds the Port Adelaide and Adelaide football clubs to all home games at Adelaide Oval.

There is only one time the Showdown should move from Adelaide Oval - for a grand final at the MCG (until the game learns to spread the love with the AFL grand final being moved from city to city as American football does with its Super Bowl and European football with its annual Champions League final).

Every other derby must remain at Adelaide Oval to honour the Port Adelaide and Adelaide members who devote their loyalty to annual purchases of season tickets. The Showdown is the jewel of their membership packages.

Mr Barrett's appreciation for the Showdown is much appreciated. But the best answer to giving Victorian-based football fans enjoyment from the drama of the Showdown is not in robbing South Australians of their blockbuster event. It is in having the Showdown broadcast move to national free-to-air television, just as Port Adelaide and Sydney had on Saturday night from the SCG.

The Showdown belongs in Adelaide. It can be appreciated by Victorians and other Australians on a television screen, just as the majority of football fans do each September with the AFL grand final.

Showdown LIII always was to have created a major fall-out. Had Adelaide lost to be left at 0-3, there would have been major questions about the rebuild that has been playing out at West Lakes for the past four years.

The Port Adelaide loss did create some unexpected reactions.

Today, in the wake of the epic two-point win against Sydney, that might be said to be "over-reactions".

Sound decisions are made without the agitation of battered emotions. And premiership campaigns do not end with a 1-2 win-loss count.

Port Adelaide is now 2-2 with wins against two of last year's four preliminary finalists (no small result considering how many have kept count of how often Port Adelaide has beaten top-eight teams in recent seasons).

Those who have questioned if senior coach Ken Hinkley has a Plan B in his playbook have to recognise there was a very different theme to the Port Adelaide game on Saturday night. Defence ruled. Port Adelaide had "just" 45 inside-50s and delivered 21 scores (albeit with an inaccurate 9.12). The major key performance indicator was 24 tackles inside-50.

And the meaningful connection between coach and team was so notable with Hinkley taking to the bench.

Port Adelaide at 2-2 is far from perfect. But it also is not broken. The football program has none of the tell-tale signals that would make a board of directors feel compelled to seek a change in direction.

So far, the storyline of the season is - W in the season-opener at home with a third-quarter blitz of Brisbane; a wipe-out L against a high-powered Collingwood at the MCG; failed gambles and tactical misfires against Adelaide in Showdown LIII; and a defining win against enormous challenges on and off the field against Sydney at the SCG on Saturday night.

And the Port Adelaide players put pride in their black jumpers. They put respect in the way Port Adelaide is seen as a competitor on the national stage.

There is a line in the Sydney club song lyrics, originally of South Melbourne - and "borrowed" by Port Adelaide club great Bob McLean in 1970.

It reads: "Honour the NAME by day and by night".

The Port Adelaide Football Club has donned many colours, many jumpers in many competitions. But since formation in 1870 the club's name has been - always has been - Port Adelaide. On Saturday night, Tom Jonas and his men put honour in their club's name with a significant win.

While the club's traditional black-and-white jumper remains topical it is worth noting Adelaide Football Club chairman John Olsen last week noted: "That is the AFL's call (what an away team at Adelaide Oval) wears ... that will be the AFL's decision (on Port Adelaide's uniform for a derby). The AFL at the end of the day will make that judgment."

Heritage has a chance ...

ON REVIEW: We live in a world where a householder can buy a camera that can film the trademark on the sneakers of the visitor walking along the home driveway. But we still cannot get clear and meaningful images for score review at an AFL match.

The long-winded and misfiring score reviews at the SCG on Saturday night reaffirm the league needs better technology for better calls at the goal-line. In the meantime, Jackson Mead can feel short changed in being denied a goal on Saturday night.