This article originally appeared on afl.com.au
PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has taken aim at cross-town rivals Adelaide for claiming the Crows are the club for all South Australians.
Heading into what promises to be a fiery Showdown 47 at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, Hinkley lit the fuse by reminding his Crows counterpart Don Pyke that the Power have made massive inroads since joining the AFL in 1997, not to mention Port Adelaide's rich state-league history dating back to 1870.
"With great respect to the Crows, their banner says a team for all South Australians," Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley told reporters on Friday, while sitting alongside Pyke during their pre-Showdown media conference at Adelaide Oval.
"That's not quite right.
"We've got 300,000 Port Adelaide supporters, who think this game is pretty important for the Port Adelaide Football Club as well."
The 47th edition of the Showdown has huge implications for both clubs.
The Power are sitting ninth with a 7-7 record after last week's disappointing loss to the Western Bulldogs, while the sixth-placed Crows (8-6) are a long way from securing a finals berth.
The Crows have the edge on the Power recently, with seven victories in their past eight encounters, but all but two of those have been by 20 points or less.
"I'd suggest the results say we match up pretty well, even though we haven't won many," Hinkley said.
"I'd say they've been pretty close games, more often than not, in my time ... could've gone either way, most of the time.
"That's just what Showdowns are."
The Power have made four changes to the side that lost to the Dogs.
They welcome back midfielder Tom Rockliff after a massive 57 disposals in the SANFL, veteran Justin Westhoff and suspended duo Karl Amon and Dougal Howard.
Making way are inexperienced quartet Willem Drew, Kane Farrell, Peter Ladhams and Joel Garner – who have a combined 26 games between them.
Reigning Power best and fairest Westhoff responded to his axing with 37 disposals and three goals, enough to earn the 32-year-old, 260-game swingman a recall.
"Westy couldn't have done any more," Hinkley said.
"People get out of form and they can respond quickly.
"Westy certainly went back and did everything he possibly could to play.
"He's got a bit of a Showdown record so we'll give him a go."
Hinkley also expected co-captain Ollie Wines to take the bit between his teeth after he had just 12 touches in the loss to the Dogs.
"He, like any player of that quality, expects some heat when he's not played as well as he'd like to," Hinkley said.
"Our midfield has copped some heat and they should have. Ollie leads that area of the ground. He'll be OK and he'll respond well."
Hinkley hopes that adding more experience to the team will lead to more consistent performances.
"We've had the most debutants of any club, we had seven blokes last week, really inexperienced players out there," he said.
"We get some of the reasons why we're a slightly inconsistent side."
