LATE in Showdown I - as Port Adelaide has a 40-point lead erode to put what Leigh Matthews had called a "thrashing" become dicy - key defender Darren Mead put his fist to a ground ball to send the Sherrin over the boundary line at the northern end of Football Park.
The master of Showdown I was playing for time in a very different time, 1997.
"Is that deliberate?" asks Channel Seven commentator and VFL goalkicking great Peter McKenna who had been lavishing praise on Mead for not letting anyone - in particular Nigel Smart - take a mark in his area during the first derby.
The field umpires - there were three rather than today's four - gave Mead (not for the first time) the generous benefit of doubt by asking the boundary umpire to throw the ball in. Given the significant advantage Port Adelaide had in ruck with the pairing of Matthew Primus and Brendon Lade in that first Showdown, Mead was doing much more than "time wasting". He was resetting play so Brayden Lyle, Shayne Breuer, David Brown, Shane Bond and Co. - all marvellous role players in Showdown I - could clear the area from a Primus or Lade tap.
Today, whoever has taken McKenna's seat in the commentary booth, would say quite emphatically: "That IS deliberate!" And the umpire would acknowledge such with a free kick for "insufficient intent" to keep the ball in play.
The game has certainly changed since that first Showdown on April 20, 1997 - a perfect Sunday - redefined (or did it re-establish) South Australian football (and South Australia) by presenting a stark difference in AFL loyalties in Adelaide.
Has the Showdown changed as well?
This season, the competing derby clubs will in the build up to each of the two Showdowns turn back the clock by completing the historical record from the game that divides the State and fascinates the nation.
The Showdown Medal record will - finally - acknowledge the best-afield in the first six derbies. The record books will, appropriately, be complete.
In looking back to Showdown I, there is the reminder that very little stays the same in Australian football (a game that delivers more rule and interpretation changes than any other sport).
In a telling expression of the importance of the moment, both coaching panels in Showdown I presented themselves with collar and tie. Today, the fashion is polo shirts.
What else has changed?
LOCATION: From Football Park, West Lakes - where Port Adelaide built a 19-16 win-loss record - to Adelaide Oval. Port Adelaide won the first derby at West Lakes, the last with the epic comeback and Angus Monfries' bouncing goal on August 4, 2013 and the first Showdown at the original cradle of South Australian football in the north parklands on March 29, 2014.
TROPHY: Remember vice-captain Brayden Lyle accepting the first Showdown trophy - a silver cup presented by event sponsor SA Brewing with its West End brand - after the 11-point win? Where was inaugural captain Gavin Wanganeen? He was carried from the ground after being clipped on the ankle early in the derby. The trophy has seen a few remakes to today be a shield honouring event sponsor, charity arm Variety.
BENCHES: Wanganeen was first to take to the bench that became a casualty ward. Port Adelaide ultimately lost Fabian Francis (knee) and Tom Carr (ribs) to injury in a derby that carried just three interchange players - not five (four plus a substitute) today. No wonder Mead was creating "time outs" with safety plays to the boundary after opposition coach Malcolm Blight went to the last huddle at three quarter-time with just one message for his players: "Run!"
No score review, no 6-6-6 starting positions, umpires always bouncing the ball for field ruck contests, just one telecaster (Channel Seven with Dennis Cometti as the eloquent leader of Matthews and McKenna in the box and Neil Kerley and Matthew Campbell on the boundary) rather than two ...
Between goals, the showdown of South Australian and Melbourne brewers had Channel Seven carrying ads for a carton of Victorian beer at $29.99 (almost $60 today).
DRESS CODE: Port Adelaide was in its original black (away) guernsey with the sharp white and teal diagonals coming away from the left side of the jumper. Today, it is the V-line black jumper as the away competitor and the traditional black-and-white bars as the home team in derbies.
How much has changed with Showdowns; how much has not?
Travis Boak was in his first season at Port Adelaide and in his seventh game of AFL football on August 4, 2007 when he experienced on a Saturday night at Football Park his first Showdown as a player - and a classic eight-point margin at the finish. He has played in another 31 Showdowns since and has three Showdown Medals.
How does a player see the "change" with the Showdown?
"It's bigger," says Boak. "Bigger externally. The build-up to a Showdown has become bigger because the football landscape is bigger today. You have social media now; you have more football in the traditional media, particularly radio and television. It is way bigger.
"Social media has given the fans their place to get involved in the Showdown. So, externally, the build-up to a Showdown is much bigger than it was in 2007.
"Football-wise, the Showdown is as spicy as ever. But you can't get away with what was seen years ago. That has changed.
"The importance of the game certainly has not changed. You know what the Showdown means for your fan base; you know what it means for your football club and you certainly know what it means for personal pride. You want to get one over the rival in town. So the importance of the Showdown to a player is as big as it has ever been.
"The game of football has changed, full stop. So the Showdown has changed with it. What does not change is how the No.1 challenge in this game is at the contest. The contest represents the game then, now and always.
"Maybe there were bigger hits before, tougher fights and more one-on-ones in earlier Showdowns. But the brutal physicality in the last Showdown says we want to win ... how much we want to win Showdowns.
"That has not changed. That will never change."
