Port Adelaide players look on after the R20 match against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on July 26. 2025. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos

PORT Adelaide’s capitulation at the hands of arch-rival Adelaide was a perfect storm of personnel issues and an inability to win the contests.

The Power recorded their heaviest Showdown defeat and biggest loss under Ken Hinkley in the 98-point result.

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“Definitely a sign of where the two teams are. I mean, clearly, one team’s on top of the ladder tonight, and the other team’s battling to get to the line each week [for] a few different reasons, whether they be injury or whether they be performance, and tonight, they both come together and you end up getting beaten badly in lots of fundamental parts of the game,” Hinkley said.

“We don’t wave the white flag, but I get the question based on the margin at the end, but I think that’s just the gulf between the two teams at the moment.

“At this time of the year, when things go against you, no one gives up, no one stops trying, but it can look a little bit like that, and it just looks like every mistake’s got a bad outcome on it, [and] people feel the pressure a little bit more.

“Other than the first quarter, we were never in the game. We were outplayed around the contests. We were outplayed with their method. It was incredibly wet. That again opens up the margin from personnel – I think for both sides, they have top-end talent, they have a really healthy list and credit to where credit is due. They exposed us tonight in all areas of the game.”

Port Adelaide has four games left under Hinkley – against Geelong, Fremantle, Carlton and Gold Coast – and a growing injury list, with Lachie Jones (corked leg) and Jack Lukosius (calf) a chance to join the rehab group, while skipper Connor Rozee is still carrying a broken hand.

“The bigger issues [the side faces], that’s probably a later question and now it’s about what are the issues that we need to address. First of all, [we] need to pick a fit side next week, and we need to make sure that our effort was better than it was tonight for four quarters, not just for parts of the game,” Hinkley said.

“Every opportunity you get to play AFL football, as an individual first and then as a collective, means something to you, and that’s what it should do to the boys, and to me. 

“We know that the challenges are coming all the way to the end, but what you’ve got to do is just show that sometimes you’re willing to take on those challenges. I expect that group, our group, to be like that and our group to turn back up and want to play much, much better next week, knowing we’re going to play another really good side on their deck, but I expect the group to turn up and have that attitude. 

“That’s the way they want to be – not roll over, and not concede. You’re playing footy, you’re playing professional sport, turn up and make sure you represent your side the best you can possibly do it. Tonight was nowhere near what we want it to be.”

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks mused the game was somewhat like a daydream, such was the ultra high standard of play from his side.

“Dreams can be as wild as you want them to be, but yeah, you dream about performances like that. I’m trying to find the words for it,” Nicks said.

“You know, on a wet day where, you, that can bring footy down a bit, I there’s a great game of footy. We ended up with [a crowd of] 46,000 in conditions like that, it shows where the state’s at and where our members and supporters are at, so really gives you that edge. 

“But for our guys to perform the way they did and be just so clean and ruthless in the contest, we tackled as well as I’ve ever seen us tackle. There was a point there, I’m not sure if we had a mis-tackle, maybe one. 

“It’s years of work putting in, in the gym, and I mentioned it post-game to a few about the crew that we’ve got in high-performance that are as good as any. When we talk about good people at our footy club, that’s the people we’re talking about, not just our players, it’s our staff. So it was one of those nights.”

Adelaide confirmed Max Michalanney will need scans to ascertain the level of damage to his hamstring, having been subbed off in the third term. 

The Crows are in the middle of two consecutive six-day breaks, with Hawthorn to come on Friday night, and were able to make a few changes in the fourth term to help manage some legs.

“We had a little bit of a different look onball, guys that we wanted to give an opportunity to, which is a great position to be and you don’t often get that,” Nicks said.

“Unfortunately, the sub had already been made, but we were able to manage through the bench as well, you get to take off some of the guys that we didn’t necessarily – we don’t want to risk anyone, but, you know, to get Riley (Thilthorpe) off the ground and Tex (Walker) at a different point was a bonus for us.”