“Roughies get up”: Hinkley says ladder positions irrelevant against Crows
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley knows the odds are stacked against his side ahead of tomorrow night’s Showdown – a dead-rubber for the Power, but a chance for Adelaide to consolidate a top-four berth.
Can Port avoid another Showdown drubbing tomorrow? Photo: Ben Macmahon / AAP
Nonetheless, he reckons Australia’s underwhelming Olympics performance is proof favourites don’t always live up to the hype as the Power look to bring some much-needed cheer to their fans by upsetting the red-hot Crows.
“Roughies get up,” he said today.
“It’s not unusual… we’ve seen that just recently in the Olympic Games, I reckon. Things don’t always go to plan.
“We have a history, don’t we, in Showdowns [where] ladder positions go out the window.”
Hinkley says the Power “obviously haven’t played the way we want to play” this season. That will be hard-pressed to change this weekend though, with spearheads Charlie Dixon and Chad Wingard to miss through injury, along with developing defender Logan Austin.
They’ll be replaced by livewire Jake Neade, ageing forward Jay Schulz and Melbourne import Jimmy Toumpas.
The Crows have made only one change, bringing back ruck linchpin Sam Jacobs after a two-week layoff to replace his understudy Reilly O’Brien.
But Crows coach Don Pyke insists the clash is still “a two-horse race”.
“We’ve got to be comfortable handling that [favouritism],” he said.
“We expect Port will come at us tomorrow night… we have to embrace that and accept that challenge.”
-with AAP
