ADELAIDE’S round seven fixture against North Melbourne was billed as a celebration of the club’s 1998 Grand Final win, so it was only fitting one Crow should put on a Darren Jarman-like performance.
Jarman booted five classy goals in Adelaide’s second premiership and, in slippery conditions at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night, Crows fans saw glimpses of their former hero in the form of silky half-forward Jason Porplyzia.
Porplyzia, who looked like his night could’ve been over in the first quarter when he grimaced clutching his sore shoulder, set the Crows alight in the third term with 11 touches, four goals and two scoring assists.
The 23-year-old made a mockery of the tricky conditions at the start of the third term when he juggled a mark from a Scott Thompson kick and played on just inside 50m to slot through his first goal of the evening.
His second came two minutes later with a clever of a long-range crumbing goal.
By then, even the Kangaroos defenders were mesmerised by Porplyzia’s brilliance, as he took a casual one-handed mark from an errant North Melbourne kick-in.
The 33-gamer set-up a goal to Goodwin and then finished the quarter the same way he started it, with his fourth goal extending the Crows’ lead to 59 points.
“'Porps' is a freak. I don’t know how he does it,” teammate Nathan van Berlo said after the game.
“He must have glue on his hands or something. It’s fantastic for us to have him up forward because he’s so clean with his possessions and he finished the goals beautifully tonight.
“They say the cream rises to the top in the wet, and 'Porps' definitely showed that tonight.”
Porplyzia revealed after the game he had been troubled by a nagging shoulder injury which has restricted his time in the midfield and is likely to require surgery at the end of the season.
But the pain from an early knock subsided on Saturday night, and the former West Adelaide junior helped inspire his team to its fifth win of the season.
Coach Neil Craig was delighted with Porplyzia’s performance, which helped cement Adelaide in fourth spot on the AFL ladder.
“He was a really influential player in that third quarter,” Craig said.
“He was clean, did everything with a minimum of fuss and I think kicked four goals. It was just an exceptional quarter of football.”
