ADELAIDE has continued its dominance over bitter rival Port Adelaide with a thrilling six-point win in Showdown XXIV in front of 45, 524 fans at AAMI Stadium.

Adelaide was down to 18 fit men at one stage in the fiery encounter, and led by just five points at three-quarter time before kicking three goals in four minutes in the final term and hanging on for a 12.13 (85) to 11.13 (79) win.

Crows onballer Bernie Vince won the Balfours Showdown Medal for best on ground after a brilliant two-goal display.

Richard Douglas and Simon Goodwin led the scoring with three goals apiece while Shaun Burgoyne kicked four for the Power.

The crowd came prepared for a shootout with both sides expressing their desire to attack during the week, but the first term was a tight, fierce tussle typical of a Showdown.

The Crows had plenty of the footy but, like Port Adelaide, burned the ball going inside 50m.

Adelaide skipper Simon Goodwin broke the scoring drought. Tyson Edwards, Scott Thompson and Graham Johncock racked up plenty of possessions as Adelaide continued to push forward, but David Rodan sidestepped cleverly to get Port Adelaide on the board.

The young duo of Nathan van Berlo and Richard Douglas combined to force Toby Thurstans into error and Douglas pounced with his first goal.

In predictable fashion, Shaun Burgoyne went forward to slip the Michael Doughty tag and he out muscled Kris Massie to level the scores at 2.3 (15) apiece at the first change.

The two teams rejected any suggestions the heat had gone out of Showdown battles with what could only be described as a spiteful second term.

Andrew McLeod, who had been kept quiet by Kane Cornes, slipped forward for Adelaide but it was Chad Cornes who nailed the first goal of the quarter.

Cornes’ goal was followed by another to Daniel Motlop, which extended Port Adelaide’s lead to 12 and triggered 10 minutes of second-quarter carnage.

Matt Thomas, who infamously laid the crunching tackle responsible for Trent Hentschel’s horrific injury, didn’t win any fans with his tackle on Nathan Bassett.

Bassett had to be taken off the ground on a stretcher after having his arms pinned and head driven into the ground by a Thomas tackle.

The incident delayed play and caused spot fires to break out all over the ground, but Bernie Vince kept his cool to kick a goal from the resulting free kick.

Minutes later Luke Jericho was cleaned up with a heavy bump from Dean Brogan, which initiated more heated discussions between players from both sides and successive 50m penalties.

McLeod stood tall in the mayhem and set-up a goal to Goodwin, which handed Adelaide a one-point lead at the main change.

The Crows started the third term with only 20 fit men and that was reduced to 18 when Kris Massie (hamstring) went straight down the race and was followed by Jason Porplyzia (shoulder) who collided with Brett Ebert.

But the casualty rate didn’t prevent Richard Douglas from extending Adelaide’s lead to eight points in the opening two minutes.

Both sides continued to kick inaccurately in front of goal and the Crows players continued to fall like flies.

Jon Griffin flew high for a mark and hit his head in a hard landing, but Brett Burton and Edwards played on to kick Adelaide’s second for the term.

The Crows continued to push with some individual brilliance from Bernie Vince and McLeod resulting in goals and extending Adelaide’s lead to 18 points. But again the Power responded with two late goals to Shaun Burgoyne and Chad Cornes reducing the margin to five at the last change.

Porplyzia and Jericho returned to give the Crows some rotations in the final quarter and Douglas and Vince continued their impressive games.

Douglas scorched past Shaun Burgoyne to run into this third goal and Vince continued his devastating form.

The talented ball-winner had a hand in goals to Goodwin and Jon Griffin with the latter putting the Crows 22 points up.

The Power kept coming with goals to Motlop, Dean Brogan and Shaun Burgoyne, but the undermanned Crows held on to claim a well-earned win.

Adelaide         2.3  4.8  8.11  12.13 (85)
Port Adelaide 2.3  4.7  7.12  11.13 (79)

GOALS
Adelaide: Douglas 3, Vince, Goodwin 2, Edwards, McLeod, Burton, Griffin
Port Adelaide:  Shaun Burgoyne 4, Chad Cornes 2, Motlop, Rodan, Boak Brogan

BEST
Adelaide: Vince, Johncock, Edwards, Rutten, Goodwin, Douglas, Thompson
Port Adelaide: Peter Burgoyne, Brogan, Chad Cornes, Surjan, Cassisi, Shaun Burgoyne

INJURIES
Adelaide: Bassett (concussion), Jericho (back), Porplyzia (shoulder), Massie (hamstring)

Port Adelaide: nil

Reports: Matt Thomas (Port Adelaide) for rough conduct on Nathan Bassett in the second quarter.

Umpires: Vozzo, Fila, Meredith

Official crowd: 45, 524 at AAMI Stadium

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the clubs or the AFL.