Adelaide Crows dedicate Showdown victory over Port Adelaide to retiring Rory Sloane as Crows enjoy 30-point win
Adelaide’s Izak Rankine has kicked three goals in a 30-point win over arch-rivals Port Adelaide, with Power captain Connor Rozee under more injury concern.
Crows veteran Taylor Walker dedicated the win to retiring club legend Rory Sloane, who called time on his career during the week and was celebrated by fans throughout Thursday night at Adelaide Oval.
“I might get a bit emotional here. Yeah, I love him, and his beautiful family,” Walker said to Channel Seven after the match.
“Tonight we had to play without him. It’s sad. I think he made the right decision for life after footy. He has a beautiful family.
“What he’s been able to do in those 255 game, not just the Crows fans but the footy world have been so lucky to see a beautiful man play football in the right spirit.
“A great win for a great man.”
Rankine also set up two other goals in the Crows’ 12.6 (78) to 5.18 (48) win as Rozee again failed to finish because of a hamstring concern.
Rozee also couldn’t complete last week’s win against St Kilda but the Power punted on the fitness of their skipper for the Crows game.
The playmaker was subbed out in the third term and Mitch Georgiades and Lachie Jones appeared to suffer leg injuries in a loss which leaves Port with a 5-3 win-loss record
The Crows move to 3-5 and hold overall boasting rights over Port: in 55 games between the SA rivals, Adelaide now have a 28-27 edge.
Adelaide led the entire game as midfielder Jake Soligo continued his rich form with 27 disposals.
Fellow on-ballers Matt Crouch (28 touches), Jordan Dawson (24) and Rory Laird (26) were busy and Darcy Fogarty (two goals) was a standout in attack.
Walker also booted two goals while Mark Keane and Josh Worrell were superb in defence.
Port vice-captain Zak Butters gathered a game-high 33 disposals and Miles Bergman (20 touches) and Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines (22) battled gamely.
Jason Horne-Francis (two goals) was damaging in spurts and Dan Houston (20 possessions) was accomplished at half-back.
Look back at how the action unfolded in our live blog.
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