YESTERDAY saw the second ever AFLW Showdown between Adelaide and Port Adelaide, with the Crows continuing to hold bragging rights with a 30-point win over their crosstown rivals.

Yesterday’s clash saw a much more improved performance from the Power compared to the inaugural Showdown a year ago, which saw the final margin at about half of what it was in Season 7.

There were a number of areas where it was clear Port had improved in the last year, but there are still some areas where the Crows really showed their strength.

Better use of the ball up forward

Perhaps the size of the ground played a factor, but yesterday Port Adelaide was a lot more efficient going inside 50 than they were in last year’s Showdown.

Last year Port utilised the ‘kick it out in front and let the player run onto it’ strategy a lot, with not a high success rate. This year they were able to actually hit up a variety of targets, which allowed them to actually put some goals on the board.

Adelaide’s inside 50 efficiency was still sizeably better than Port’s yesterday, but the gap between the pair is a lot closer than the 40 per cent gap in last year’s clash.

Having tall targets

Speaking of hitting targets, Port Adelaide had some tall targets down in their forwardline that the Power did not have 12 months ago, that when they were up and firing, proved to be absolutely crucial in helping Port succeed.

Gemma Houghton did not play in the Showdown 12 months ago, while Ashleigh Saint was playing for the opposition a year ago, and with both of them in the forward line it gave Port Adelaide focal points to kick to. Also having multiple targets meant that if one is being double teamed or otherwise not an option, there is still that focal point there.

However, later in the match yesterday Houghton went quiet while Saint was taken out of the game by Chelsea Biddell, so one area Port need to work on is getting the other forward targets to really step up if the opponent has smartly targeted Houghton and Saint.

How do you solve a problem like some Irishwomen?

While Adelaide was rightfully targeting their defensive efforts on Saint and Houghton, a pair of Irishwoman the Power did not have to tackle a year ago were running rampant for the Crows and Port just did not recognise and respond quick enough.

Niamh Kelly was out injured for the Showdown last year while Yvonne Bonner was not even in the country, but both played a crucial role in Adelaide’s win yesterday, with Kelly winning the Showdown Medal.

Perhaps Port needs to develop someone into that versatile tagger so that when someone like a Kelly in particular comes along they have someone they can use who can go to her and quell her influence.

Full game endurance

One area that Port still have a way to go in is being able to run out a full game and still be competitive.

The Power can definitely run out more of a game than they could a year ago, but against teams as strong as the Crows, even one bad quarter can spell disaster.

Port’s inexperience was particularly evident in the third quarter yesterday when fatigue really started to kick in, and subsequently the Power were more rushed in their kicking, causing them to turn it over more frequently.

However, in a positive for the Power, this happened in the third term yesterday, as opposed to the first term a year ago.