PORT ADELAIDE coach Mark Williams has revealed that former Australian cricket coach John Buchanan has been brought into the club by senior powerbrokers and may have an ongoing role.

Speaking after the Power’s fighting 12 point Showdown win over cross-town rival the Adelaide Crows, Williams said that Buchanan had been brought in by outgoing Port Chief Executive John James and Football Manager Peter Rohde.

 “Peter Rohde and John James thought let’s bring in someone else from outside the group,” Williams told the media after the match.

“Obviously he’s a very astute preparer of sports people and brought something new to the game that cricket hadn’t seen before. It’s amazing to admire people from a distance and then meet them and they fulfil everything you expect straight away.

 “He’s come down, he’s watched our preparation, watched us in the box, watched all this stuff, and then he’ll come and talk to us tomorrow about what he saw, and we might have an ongoing relationship, who knows.

“We’re always confident about what we do but certainly not blinded to any innovation or anything we might be able to add to what we do. So hopefully John can do that. It was great for the players to see him.”

Williams also revealed that Port had pulled out all stops for today’s match, desperate to pull back ahead of the Crows on the all-time Showdown ledger, which was tied at 12-all before today’s game.

“The most significant thing for us today was 12:12 – we wanted to stay ahead of the Crows in regard to that ledger,” Williams said. “It’s really important for our club.

“It was all about giving a bit of yourself for the club today. The club have done a wonderful job, and we thought it was time to lay it on the line and deliver and give something back to the club. That was pretty significant for us.

“For our supporters – it was really important for them today. I really applaud those who came. It’s disappointing the Adelaide (Crows) people didn’t turn up. We really felt they (the crowd) helped get us over the line today.”

The pre-game preparation even included a video from former Crows and Glenelg legend Tony McGuiness – now an assistant at Port – about the meaning of Port Adelaide.

“Tony went out of his way to prepare a video about today. It was outstanding – I thought it had a significant influence on the result as well.

“We got ourselves up for this game … (but) what we’re doing now is preparing for next year,” Williams said.

Part of that preparation is to expose young players to key roles, and to turn around a poor record regarding contested ball in the first half of 2008. They did both today, with Adam Thomson and Greg Bentley spending significant time in the centre (and Chad Cornes none), while Port won the contested ball counts.

“To beat Adelaide at contested ball … beat them at hard ball gets, tackles, clearances – they’re pretty nice stats for us,” Williams said.

“I thought Tom Logan and Dom Cassisi and Kane Cornes were very significant. Logan did some great stuff in and under; Kane just really worked hard, beat his man and got possessions as well. Dom Cassisi had 13 tackles, had eight clearances and won a lot of the ball. That was really important for us.”

The other important factor was the Power’s ability to withstand a last quarter fightback from the Crows, who drew to within seven points mid-way through the final term.

“It was really important. Too many times this year we’ve just rolled over in that regard. (To be) mentally tough is important. There’s so much on the line. They’re going to see these Crows players waking around the street tomorrow. It’s not about gloating; it’s just about walking with your head high.”