SINCE the restart six weeks ago, more than Port Adelaide fans have wondered when - and how - Robbie Gray would make his mark on Season 2020.

(Or if he would ever get a free kick).

Those footy gods who blessed the game with Robbie Gray came up with quite a comeback moment on Sunday.

In the lead-up, Gray had avoided the hero moment for himself with less than two minutes remaining on the clock - and a four-point deficit to clear on Carlton. He was unselfish by preferring to handpass to team-mate Todd Marshall at the top of the goalsquare - a play that ended with Port Adelaide's third consecutive miss in a game needing a hero with the winning goal. (The previous two misses were from key forward Charlie Dixon hitting the post after taking his seventh mark and spilling blood; the other was from Gray ... from a free kick; yes, a free kick).

But when the siren sounds - and you are stuck on the boundary at the Gabba, 40 metres from goal and staring at a three-point deficit, there is only one thing to do.

"Go through the routine ...," said Gray, who was as nonchalant in his perfect finish as he was emotionally cool in the aftermath while others went into meltdowns.

The other goalsneak who warms up his motorbike in that sunny pocket at the Gabba, Charlie Cameron summed it up: "Robbie Gray is a cold-blooded killer."

The No. 55 pick in the 2006 AFL national draft has made a reputation from himself with some remarkable finishing plays - one or two on the siren when Port Adelaide has been in a spot of bother during his 225 AFL games since 2007.

Gray did it to St Kilda by reading a ruck tap at Adelaide Oval in 2017. He has now done it to Carlton in leading out to club debutant Sam Mayes' kick to the top of the inside-50 arc on his old stamping ground at the Gabba.

Port Adelaide remains top with a 6-1 win-loss record with four of those triumphs from "neutral" games against Fremantle, West Coast, Greater Western Sydney and Carlton, either from hub life on the Gold Coast or from fly-in, fly-out day trips to south-east Queensland.

The all-in scenes on that boundary at the Gabba as the Port Adelaide players overwhelmed Gray might have made a mockery for the growing concern about any physical toll developing from repeat trips to Queensland, particularly after consecutive 4.30am alarm calls.

Certainly the Champion Data statistical sheets highlighted Port Adelaide was never going give up finding that winning goal - nine inside-50 sorties while Carlton managed just one in the last 10 minutes underline this point.

On the bench, Dixon - who started the run of yips in the dramatic finish - was a relieved man: "Robbie saved my arse."

In the coach's box, Ken Hinkley was having one of those near-extreme celebratory moments that makes his wife Donna nervous there is to be a repeat of that uncontrolled exuberance from Showdown XLIV in May 2018.

"Champion players step up in big moments," Hinkley said. "Robbie Gray falls into that category."

Indeed he does.

"Welcome back, Robbie ... we've missed you," said North Melbourne premiership defender David King from the commentary booth. "We've missed you at your very best."

RIGHT TO THE END

Port Adelaide 9.10 (64) d Carlton 9.7 (61)

SPEED is like a drug in football. It becomes an intoxicating drive for more and more speed. And if you mix it with space, it is more and more dangerous.

From the first bounce at the Gabba on Sunday, Port Adelaide had made the fast start - three unanswered goals that put away any fear of jet lag from another early morning flight from Adelaide to Brisbane.

But at quarter-time, Carlton was leading by a point - 26-25 - from an even faster response of four unanswered goals while making to most of the space Port Adelaide was leaving in defence, particularly behind its high-playing half-back line.

At this scoring rate, those have been craving high-scoring football were in for a feast. The prospect of a shoot-out with Port Adelaide key forward Charlie Dixon scoring big and the mercurial Eddie Betts doing the same for Carlton seemed real - and worth enjoying, regardless of the final result.

To finish at 64-61 - with both attacking-minded teams managing nine goals each - will bring up the question of where does the once watershed 100-point marker sit in today's game of shortened quarters (16 minutes, rather than 20, plus time-on)?

In Season 2020, there were just five scores of 100-plus before this Port Adelaide-Carlton game (one by Port Adelaide with its 110 points in round 2 during the Showdown win at Adelaide Oval; and one by Carlton with its 103 against the Western Bulldogs on the Gold Coast in round 6 - after no team managed 100 points in rounds 3, 4 and 5). By contrast, there were 22 in the first six rounds of last season - and at least one in every round).

More relevant is how Port Adelaide adjusted - and, once again this season, adapted to put a game on its terms. From the second quarter, it took the race for speed out of the contest to seek more controlled ball movement. Had the finishing been sharper, the game would not have needed Robbie Gray to save Port Adelaide after the final siren - 2.2 and one out-of-bounds on the full with Connor Rozee remarkably sitting the ball on the top of the left behind post in the second term; 1.2 in the third and 2.4 in the last for a grand count of 5.9 and two out-of-bounds on the full after opening with 4.0.

If Fox Footy had the "Lab" in action on Sunday, there would have been a fascinating tactical debate on how aggressive Port Adelaide defence coach Brett Montgomery is with setting up his half-back line closer to the centre square than the goal square.

This - and the adjustments after quarter-time - should be the focus of the Monday night talkfests, particularly when the time has come to acknowledge how Port Adelaide has strengthened its playbook in the past 18 months. This is no one-trick pony that wants to simply load up the scoreboard with free-running football.

Port Adelaide can work the other way too.

Senior coach Ken Hinkley says his team was "resilient", a theme he brought up a three quarter-time when Port Adelaide led by six points - and was soon after to lose defender Ryan Burton and midfielder-forward Steven Motlop to injury.

There is one player who deserves as much credit for Sunday's win as Robbie Gray commands for the match-winning goal after the siren. This is Zak Butters. It should be well remembered he took the match-saving mark on the goal-line when Carlton made its last play inside-50; that kick from midfielder David Cunningham would have put Carlton 10 points in front and with the game on its terms.

Butters is more than an excitement trigger in attack; he also is a defensive vice. His tackle to stop Tom Williamson's exit from the Port Adelaide forward-50 in the third term is one of the highlights of an extraordinary match. 

In his second year at Port Adelaide and in the AFL, Butters is making that No. 18 jumper a torment for opponents - as it was when David Granger wore it in the SANFL and Kane Cornes for 300 games in the AFL - and part of a new cult following at Alberton.

RSVP

IT is not unusual for the host of a party to declare what can or cannot be worn. No denim. Black tie obligatory.

But surely only the AFL - in particular its football department determining if two jumpers clash - should deal with match-day attire.

The Battle of the Bars has taken another turn - to the hysterical.

Already, there is Collingwood - or more to the point, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire - wanting to block Port Adelaide's plan to wear the 1902-designed black-and-white bars in all Showdowns at Adelaide Oval.

Now, inaugural Adelaide Football Club coach and Australian Football Hall of Famer Graham Cornes wants the bars banned from Showdowns in which Port Adelaide is the guest as the "away" team at the derby.

One could be excused for thinking Port Adelaide wanted to turn up to the silver spooners' game wearing blue-collar overhauls rather than the tuxedo of Australian football uniforms.

If ever the AFL Commission needed to reaffirm it is the only controlling body in top-flight Australian football, this is the moment.

But back to G.S. Cornes Esq, the latest opinionist strapped to a clickbait counter that determines whether a newspaper columnist will survive in the digital era. The boy who cried wolf has a new rival.

Let's deal with some facts.

AFL LICENCE. In 1993, in preparation for South Australia to have its second AFL licence operating from 1996 (that became 1997), the AFL called for the home-town rival to the Adelaide Football Club be established from an "established, traditional" base.

Every SANFL club put up its hand. Port Adelaide went solo. Norwood joined with Sturt, answering the SANFL's wish to use the second-licence debate to remove the bye from its nine-team State league. Glenelg and South Adelaide tumbled to the same theme. The rest - North Adelaide, Central District, West Adelaide and Woodville-West Torrens - formed the "cartel".

No private enterprise, such as the Indian Pacific group that established the West Coast AFL franchise in 1986, emerged.

In December 1994, the Port Adelaide Football Club was endorsed as the SA Football Commission's unanimous choice for the AFL sub-licence. This is the Port Adelaide Football Club established in 1870 and a founding member of the SA Football Association (now SANFL) in 1877.

A new Port Adelaide Football Club did not appear from a working party room at Alberton. New company guidelines were needed to trade as an AFL club. And - in one of the greatest mistakes in SA football - Port Adelaide was told to establish a new SANFL entity ... and to not associate with it. NTUA.

RIVALRY. Mr Cornes says Hawthorn is Adelaide's fiercest rival because it was the first AFL team his club played in 1991. Surely that was Essendon?

And which team do Crows fans most want to beat - and most want included in the home-game offerings each season?

PRESENTATION. Port Adelaide is making the case that the Showdown is enhanced by the appearance of the bars guernsey. It is the jumper that reflects the great divide - the "them versus us" - that determines a Port Adelaide supporter and the rest during the derby that divides South Australia.

It is the jumper that symbolises all that unfolded 30 years ago - almost to the day - when Port Adelaide opted to follow its national agenda by signing a heads-of-agreement with the VFL to become an AFL club in 1991. The fall-out led to the Adelaide Football Club.

It is the jumper that puts SANFL history and traditions into an AFL match. 

Wearing the bars in the Showdowns enhances - not "detract" as Mr Cornes says - from the presentation of any derby, no matter who has first rights to top billing on the old Adelaide Oval scoreboard.

FINALLY. And if a home team is going to get the call on deciding what its guest wears, perhaps the Adelaide Football Club could dust down the blue-green-and-white jumper it considered as its uniform before deciding it needed to dress in state colours to find support.

To support Port Adelaide's bid to wear the bars, please sign the petition.

ROLL THE TAPE

IN a week when AFL coaches pushed for more interchange players - Alastair Clarkson (Hawthorn) wanting two more on the bench to allow for development projects; and Luke Beveridge (Western Bulldogs) revisiting the substitute theme:

While the time of quarters is so short (16 rather than 20 minutes) and scoring is down, we don't need to necessarily extend the interchange bench.

It is an opportunity to manage a list. To see how well you are developing (players) and how deep your teachings run. You can still give some guys opportunities (to play).

And the other part of this, you see your conditioning staff, the medical staff and coaching staff earn their money.

Port Adelaide defence coach Brett Montgomery. 

TAKE IT TO THE BANK

(Five things we learned in the past week)

1) QUOTE OF THE WEEK: From Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk: "Queensland is the new home for the AFL - temporarily ... if we are doing the heavy lifting (for the AFL) we would like to be considered for a grand final - that's only fair."

2) VOICE OF AFFIRMATION: It does not need a West Australian-based AFL team to take to the field at Perth Stadium for the free-kick count to go heavily one-sided - as it did for Collingwood against Geelong in Thursday Night Football, prompting Geelong forward Josh Jenkins to tweet: "Do we allow these umpires back into our hotel after the game!?!" The count was 22-10 in Collingwood's favour with the majority of the Collingwood penalties called by "Razor" Ray Chamberlain.

3) SHOW ME THE MONEY: Clearly players are itching for new deals for 2021 and beyond - and so are some clubs, in particular those such as Brisbane that want to hold together a premiership-contending squad. From Brisbane football boss David Noble at the weekend: "I hope that window opens (again). I hope so for the players' sake. It is fair and reasonable. We understand the (need for the) freeze. From a club's perspective, to have those negotiations to secure players going forward is really important."

4) DEW POINT: Port Adelaide premiership winner Stuart Dew extended his contract  at Gold Coast to include the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Meanwhile, at the Fox Footy desk his Hawthorn premiership team-mate Jordan Lewis revealed he had not seen Dew as an eventual AFL coach, but he noted Dew was "football intelligent and strong in building relationships." Sometimes the most obvious is lost amid the trees in the forest.

5) NEXT GENERATION: Izak Rankine one week; Cody Weightman the next with spectacular entries to the AFL's exclusive club of scoring a goal with one's first kick in league football. The game has an exciting new crew emerging.

NEXT 

Port Adelaide v St Kilda

Saturday, July 26 

Adelaide Oval, 7.10pm (SA time)

HOME sweet home. Port Adelaide returns to Adelaide Oval for the first time since the Showdown victory on June 13.

It is a Saturday night timeslot - much preferred by Port Adelaide fans and more of them can enter the arena with the 2240 limit from the derby increased to 25,000.

This match-up has pushed around a fair bit. First it was at Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai. Then it went to the Docklands to remain a St Kilda home game in Melbourne. And now it is at Adelaide Oval.

Port Adelaide and St Kilda last played at Adelaide Oval on July 7, 2018 with Ken Hinkley's crew scoring a 36-point win .... almost a year after the memorable Patrick Ryder tap to Robbie Gray in the north-west pocket produced the match-winning goal for a 63-61 win on the death knock.

And hasn't Gray warmed up nicely for the homecoming to Adelaide Oval.