Footy Forecast: Your weekly AFL preview from SA’s most diehard fans
A “day one” Fleurieu Crows supporter says his brother is still recovering from the team’s 2017 loss to this week’s rivals the Tigers, while a Port Adelaide supporter is hoping her “lucky jeans” can get her team over the line on Friday night.
“Thilthorpe needs a big game” – Adelaide Crows’ Andrew Benson
Victor Harbor local Fleurieu Supporter Group president Andrew Benson is a “day one” supporter, holding a membership since the beginning when Adelaide Crows first started playing at Footy Park.
One of Benson’s fondest memories was going to to see Adelaide win its inaugural premiership in 1997, defeating St Kilda by 31 points.
“I had my 10-year-old son with me, and we stood at the back, and he had to stand on a box to see what was going on,” Benson said.
“Funny enough, my main memory from the day is the guy who draws the grand final posters, he was actually sat outside the ground signing the posters and we got a couple of those signed.”
Adelaide is coming off a heart-stopping one-point Showdown victory against Port Adelaide last Friday night with Brayden Cook slotting the winning goal with 13 seconds remaining.
Benson said the “unbelievable” finish to the game reminded him of Jordan Dawson’s heroics where he guided the Crows to victory with a goal after the siren in a 2022 Showdown matchup.
“Showdown is always close, and you can never, ever expect to win the showdown, no matter where Port or we are on the ladder,” he said.
“We could be on top, and Port could be bottom, and Port could still win the Showdown.”
Benson said Crows midfielder Sam Berry played his best game for the club, with his 29 disposal and 19 tackle effort winning him the Showdown Medal for best on ground. But he had a surprise pick for who he thought would win the medal.
You might like
“Riley Thilthorpe was beaten all night, and we were surprised his [Port Adelaide] defender Aliir Aliir didn’t get best on ground.”
Adelaide will be heading to the MCG on Sunday afternoon to take on Richmond, almost nine years after they were beaten comprehensively by the Tigers in the 2017 Grand Final.
“My brother’s still recovering from that game 10 years later,” Benson said.
“We were unlucky enough to have Dustin Martin play against us, when he was easily the best player in the AFL.
“Playing against Damien Hardwick as coach and having Dusty play for Richmond made it pretty much impossible to win the game, and then you’ve got 80,000 Richmond supporters barracking for Richmond on the day.”
But Adelaide fans will be able to breathe a sigh of relief with Hardwick moving to the Gold Coast Suns and Richmond legend Dustin Martin retiring in 2024.
Richmond is fresh off their first win of the season, beating fellow bottom four side West Coast by 10 points last Saturday.
Benson will be making the long drive to Melbourne to watch his team take on a “pretty hopeless” Richmond, tipping the Crows by at least 40 points. He tipped forward duo Izak Rankine and Riley Thilthorpe for big performances.
“If Izak Rankine can hit his straps, he can kick four or five goals quite quickly and change the game,” he said.
“I think Thilthorpe needs a big game to get back into form too, I think he played better last year than he has so far this year.”
The Adelaide fan isn’t willing to make any grand predictions this early in the season but is holding out hope that his team can win a flag for club stalwart Taylor ‘Tex’ Walker, who is out with a hamstring injury.
“Tex is my favourite player of all time pretty easily. We just think Tex has been just huge for the club and to have kicked that many goals and played so many games — he’s the heart and soul.”
“My dog is a Port member” – Port Adelaide’s Kath Zummo
Stay informed, daily
Kath Zummo has supported Port Adelaide since she was born, following in her father’s footsteps as a decades long fan and 10-year club member.
“My dad was born and raised in Sicily and came to Australia. He followed the SANFL and he chose the Port Magpies and now he follows Port Adelaide in the AFL,” Zummo said.
Zummo was among the Port Adelaide cheer squad last Friday to watch the narrow one-point loss to Adelaide in the Showdown.
“It was a little boring in parts, but that fourth quarter was amazing, and that’s what Showdowns are all about,” she said.
“I bet a can of Coke on the Showdown, and I gave the can yesterday to a successful Crows supporter, which was a bit disappointing.”
Aliir Aliir was an absolute standout for Port Adelaide, finishing the game with 21 disposal, 14 intercepts and keeping Crows forward Riley Thilthorpe to one goal.
“Aliir — what a gun. If we didn’t have him last week, I think we would have lost by more than 98 points like we did in the last Showdown,” Zummo said.
“I quite liked Corey Durdin’s two goal game as well; he was very good.”
Port Adelaide will face an injury-riddled Western Bulldogs on Friday night at Adelaide Oval, with Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli fresh off a 33 disposal and two goal performance against Fremantle last week.
Western Bulldogs demolished Port Adelaide by 90 points in their previous 2025 matchup in Ballarat, but Zummo is confident Port can get the win if tall forward Mitch Georgiades can have a big game.
“I think his kicking has been lacking a little bit. I think he needs to get up and show that he can kick six to seven goals,” she said.
“Zak Butters is fantastic, and I think that he should be captain, and that’s no offense against Connor Rozee.
“I think Rozee’s been great, but I think Zak Butters has got the edge and he’s got that passion.”
Zummo will attend the Friday night blockbuster wearing her lucky jeans, socks and shoes that she wears each week, while her Border Collie Jagger will be at home barking the team on.
“My dog Jagger is a Port member, and we deck him out all in Port gear,” Zummo said.
“People that I go to the football with, they’ve both got dogs and we deck them out on game days when we can’t attend.
“He’s definitely a Port supporter. He loves watching the footy as well, even on TV he’ll watch it because he watches the ball.”
Despite club legend and former captain Travis Boak now an assistant coach at Carlton, Zummo said he remains her all-time favourite Port player.
“I’ve got a soft spot for Travis Boak and I have a lot of his memorabilia at home with player-worn guernseys, signed footballs and things like that,” she said.
“Unfortunately, he’s now at Carlton but I think he’ll always be Port Adelaide at heart.”
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
