Two heartbroken clubs and a rivalry like no other — the Phil Walsh Showdown, 10 years on

Scott Thompson is an expert on Showdowns, but when it comes to the 39th edition of the biggest game in South Australia, he has seen nothing remotely like it.

Thompson has more experience than most in the rivalry game between the Crows and the Power. The Adelaide midfielder played in nearly two dozen contests between the cross-town rivals prior to July 19, 2015.

That day would be his 23rd time to play in the much-anticipated encounter. He would play two more before his retirement in 2017. But nothing before or since compared to what happened that day at Adelaide Oval.

“Well, Showdowns have always had that fierce rivalry, haven’t they? And I suppose the one glaring thing for me out of that game was the rivalry was put aside,” Thompson says.

“It was certainly a game that I’ve never experienced anything like it beforehand and post that [either].”

Ten years ago today, the two halves of Adelaide came together for the most combustible event on the city’s football calendar, in a game filled instead with an atmosphere of grief, remembrance, celebration and — most of all — a unity unlike anything seen at previous Showdowns.

To understand why, we have to go back in time 16 days.

‘Everyone was in shock’

No one was prepared for the devastating news that emerged in the early hours of Friday morning, July 3, 2015.

Police had answered a call to go to a house in the western Adelaide suburb of Somerton Park where they found a wounded man and his wife. Paramedics quickly arrived but they could not save the man, who had multiple stab wounds. The man’s wife was taken to hospital with leg injuries, while the couple’s son was found a few kilometres away and arrested.

When Adelaide Crows chairman Rob Chapman picked up his phone at 3:30am, the phrase “nothing good ever happens after midnight” must have been going through his head, but he could not have guessed what he was about to hear.

The man who had died was Adelaide coach Phil Walsh, a man whose energy, passion and individuality had made Crows press conferences unmissable affairs since his arrival eight months previously. The man arrested, and subsequently charged with murder, was Walsh’s son, Cy.

So started an unimaginable period — for the family, the club, the whole of the AFL and the public — as everyone tried to get their heads around the tragedy and work out where football fit at such a time of incredible shock and sadness.

Thompson, now an AFL commentator for ABC Sport, was a veteran player and member of the Crows’ leadership group, and he remembers exactly the moment when he found out.

“The media manager at the footy club rang me, it was about six o’clock on that morning,” he says.

“I got the phone call and my initial thought was, I’m not answering any media thing at six o’clock in the morning.

“So I let it ring out and he rang straight back and the explanation that he gave over the phone still rings in my ears as to how blunt it was and the severity of what had happened.”

Thompson and other club leaders were tasked with ringing the younger players, getting them into the footy club to help them understand what had happened.

“But they were obviously across things, and as soon as you jump in your car and turn the radio on, by that point news had spread quite quickly as to what had happened. So when they rocked up, they were pretty much well aware of the situation,” Thompson says.

“What played out after that was certainly really upsetting and traumatic and emotional for a whole range of people as you’d understand.”

For the Port Adelaide team, things were a little different. The team was in Sydney, the morning after playing the Swans at the SCG. The Power had lost the game by 10 points and had stayed the night at a hotel in the CBD.

Walsh had been an assistant coach at the Power in 2014, before earning his shot at the Crows as senior coach.

Chris Sheedy was a data analyst with Port Adelaide at the time, and he was with the team in Sydney.

“We got on the bus early in the morning, maybe like seven [AM], somewhere around then, and the news started to filter through that something had occurred [in Adelaide], we weren’t quite sure,” Sheedy recalls.

“And then once we got to the airport, it all became apparent … and it was hard to avoid it, an airport lounge where the TVs are everywhere.

“Obviously everyone was in shock and consoling each other. And then we had a debrief that afternoon once we landed in Adelaide, and then they kind of cancelled the Crows game as well. And then to the Showdown.”

‘Our game is in mourning’

The Adelaide Football Club headquarters at West Lakes was an obvious gathering point for people to pay tribute and respect to Walsh.

The front of the building became a shrine, as people came from everywhere to lay flowers and cards in honour of Walsh and to give support to his family and team.

But it was not just the Crows who were in mourning. The man born in Hamilton in Victoria played 122 games in total for Collingwood, Richmond and the Brisbane Bears.

The largest section of his coaching career had been spent at Port Adelaide, with 10 seasons at the Power from 1999 to 2008 under Mark Williams, including the premiership year of 2004, before a move to West Coast with John Worsfold.

Then, for just the one season, Walsh moved back to Alberton under Ken Hinkley.

In a city like Adelaide there’s often less than six degrees of separation in the footy world, and the two teams were no strangers to heartbreak amongst their coaching ranks.

Sixteen months earlier, the Crows lost former assistant coach Dean Bailey to cancer. Again, both teams were in mourning, for Bailey had been on the same staff as Walsh as defensive coach in the Power’s 2004 flag.

But Bailey had taken leave from the Crows to undergo treatment for his illness, and his death, while shocking at the age of 47, was one that people could understand.

The news about Walsh was much harder to fathom.

Chapman told Fox Footy that night it was not just a case of helping players and staff to understand the unthinkable — he called on parents to try their best to deal with their children’s questions on what had happened.

It was a time beyond belief, where the spotlight was trained on the City of Churches and all those who had known Walsh.

In Melbourne, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan faced the cameras, saying “Our game is in mourning today, as Phil Walsh gave such a lot to our game.”

The decision was made to cancel Sunday’s scheduled game between the Crows and Geelong at Adelaide Oval, although the rest of the round went on, albeit in a very sombre atmosphere.

On Sunday, when the Crows were supposed to be playing, thousands of Adelaide people representing all sorts of clubs walked to the Oval.

They gathered in silence in the stands, then came out on the ground as tributes were laid on the grass.

Finally, the siren sounded.

Midfield coach Scott Camporeale was the man to step up as interim coach for the Crows, with a huge task on his hands.

“[In the off week] we had a couple of light training sessions where it literally was, when I say light training sessions, just a little run around, but it was, bring your families down, have your kids there — if you have kids — understanding the importance of family and life outside of footy,” Thompson says.

‘Hard work and elite habits’: Walsh’s philosophy

Walsh made an impression from the moment he first appeared at West Lakes for his introductory press conference in October 2014.

His intensity and passion for the game were evident, and he rapidly became known for some of his sayings and analysis of footy.

“Success doesn’t come looking for you. You’ve got to chase it — and as a team the only way to do that is through hard work and elite habits,” he said to the media on day one in the job.

That description became second nature, as players recognised Walsh’s shout of “that’s elite!” when someone did something he liked at training.

Sheedy shared an office with Walsh in 2014 and worked side by side on game days.

“I think that Phil taught me a lot. Every week he would present around opposition [tactics], and his game knowledge was obviously exceptional … but then he would also educate us off field,” Sheedy says.

“He spoke multiple languages. He spoke quite fluent Japanese and was well travelled, so he would kind of educate us on a clip or those type of things every week.

“He would use off the cuff obscure references to then reference back to football, and that was probably his funniest thing, especially in the coaches’ box.

“He’d come out with some one-liners and you’d just be like, ‘where did that come from?’ He’s quoting a NASA astronaut or something like that, and you’re like, ‘I’m not sure where that came from. We’re in the third quarter here, Phil!’.”

One memorable example of these references came at a press conference just a week before he died.

“Great art comes out of a level of frustration,” Walsh said, citing a visit he’d made to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

“I’m not an art critic, but this is a man with great frustration and I looked at the painting Sunflowers — and for a bogan from Hamilton like myself, I could actually see beauty in that frustration.

“So although our fans are frustrated, [and] we’re frustrated, we like to think there are still some masterpieces still to be painted this year.”

Thompson says Walsh came in with a “real intent” as to the sort of coach he wanted to be.

“He laid a pretty strong foundation right from the beginning. But once he’d done that and he knew he had the players on side, he certainly relaxed a lot after that period,” he says.

“You talk about the impact he had in a short period of time. It was huge … He was a bit of a larrikin inside the four walls of the footy club. But yeah, the young guys in the group warmed to him quickly and loved the type of character he was.”

Tears, circles of support and a tough return to footy

The Adelaide Crows returned to football eight days after the tragic events of July 3. The Crows travelled to Subiaco Oval to face West Coast, where Walsh had called home from 2009-2013.

“We packed up the whole club, basically the whole club went over to Perth and played West Coast over there,” Thompson says.

“Literally everybody, family and parents of players were over in WA for that game where in the end we got pantsed by West Coast. But … just the way that everyone stuck together and the respect shown was next level.”

The Crows kicked six goals in the opening term to lead by 14 points at quarter time. But West Coast, who would finish second after the home and away season, kicked 8.7 to 0.1 in the second term and won by 56 points.

What happened next, however, reminded everyone there were much more important things than premiership points.

The Crows players were overcome with emotion at the final siren. They joined their Eagles counterparts in the centre of the ground, forming a circle to pay a silent tribute to Phil Walsh. The silence was impeccably observed, as players showed raw grief in unguarded moments.

As the Crows walked off Subiaco Oval, the crowd gave them a standing ovation. At the entrance to the race, wives, partners and families of the Adelaide players gathered to clap them off the ground. It was a scene that no one in football would soon forget.

“There was a lot of emotional boys and staff after that game, and then we had to head back to Adelaide and front up against Port Adelaide in an important game the following week because our season at the end of the day was still well and truly alive, so we still had a fair bit to play for,” Thompson recalls.

“And knowing Phil as a person the way he was, he would’ve told us to all pull our heads in and get on with the job.”

A couple of days earlier, Port Adelaide had played Collingwood at Adelaide Oval, winning by three points.

After the game, Port Adelaide’s players and staff gathered on the ground in a semi-circle. The floodlights were switched off, and a tribute video to Phil Walsh was played, while the 44,000 people in attendance lit the ground with their mobile phones.

The video was soundtracked by the Birds of Tokyo song Lanterns, and the lyrics hit home with all, concluding: “In darkness I leave / For a place I’ve never seen / It’s been calling out to me / That is where I should be.”

A city and two clubs unite

The lead-up to the game was conducted in a different atmosphere to normal. At Alberton, Sheedy saw it was a different week for the analysts group as well.

“I think we definitely reduced some of the meeting times and those type of things,” he says.

“I know we definitely gave people room to grieve and there was no obligations if you felt you weren’t able to be in the room or you weren’t able to be there.

“The club was really respectful around [people’s] requirements going into the game.

“In those type of circumstances, we genuinely focused on the football and what was going to happen because it was hard to not get distracted by the external. And you probably don’t need any extra emotional motivation, you don’t need any videos or anything like that.”

Showdowns are a game apart.

Like Perth for the Western Derby, Adelaide takes on an energy all its own as a two-team town sorts out the footy pecking order twice a year.

For days leading up to the game, Adelaide is charged with energy and banter, tips of utmost importance and bets between friends and workmates riding on the outcome.

But this was a different set-up entirely.

An unprecedented atmosphere.

Crowds gathered on the banks of the River Torrens, near Elder Park, with screens for people who couldn’t get a Showdown ticket but wanted to be there anyway.

Port Adelaide’s walk to the ground started on King William Street in the city. Power fans would march down to North Terrace and through the train station to emerge on the banks of the Torrens and cross the curved pedestrian bridge to near the entrance to Adelaide Oval.

Normally the two sets of fans would not think of doing anything together. This time, however, Port Adelaide invited Adelaide fans to join them on the walk to Adelaide Oval, and chants of “Walshy!” united both sides.

Don’t think that no one cared about the result, though. Once the ball was bounced both teams — and their fans — were as focused on victory as usual. But the theme of the day was bringing people together to pay tribute to Phil Walsh, and that theme extended beyond the walk to the ground.

For the first time, both teams entered the field together. Skippers Travis Boak and Taylor Walker approached each other and shook hands, before leading their respective sides through the banner simultaneously as a wave of applause swept around the famous oval.

On one side of the banner was “Showdown XXXIX — Get The Job Done”.

On the other, the message: “Vale Phil Walsh — 1960-2015”.

“Normally there’s a lot of heat and emotion,” Thompson says.

“And when I say emotion, like combative emotion surrounding Showdowns between Port and Crows.

“But for that game, it was like everyone came together as one in Port Adelaide and Crows and everyone inside the stadium on that day, which was wonderful to see.”

Emotion set aside as the ball is bounced

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Adelaide Oval.

There was a packed crowd heavily favouring Port Adelaide, but the Crows were focused early on.

They went down the wing on the scoreboard side, from Richard Douglas to Tom Lynch to Taylor Walker, and “Tex” found Josh Jenkins in the right forward pocket. Jenkins kicked the goal from a difficult angle after 90 seconds.

The Power fans weren’t pleased, and they were less so when Matt Crouch capped a fierce passage of play with a lovely snap on his right from 20m out a few minutes later.

The game ebbed and flowed, until halfway through the opening quarter, when Ricky Henderson cut off a Port Adelaide kick inside the Power’s defensive 50.

He connected with a right-foot effort that fell just inside the right-hand goalpost and as the Crows’ cheer squad celebrated, a murmur went around the ground.

Near the 15-minute mark, an Adelaide turnover ended with Matthew Broadbent’s centimetre-perfect kick from the centre circle to find Robbie Gray 30m out. Gray drilled it, and it was back to 10 points.

The Crows answered within 90 seconds through Walker. But Paddy Ryder closed the margin again after a ruck penalty to make it a nine-point game.

Adelaide were not done for the quarter, however, back-to-back goals followed from Brodie Martin and Douglas, the latter kicking on the run from 45.

It was getting out of hand for the Power, and there were sighs of relief late on, when Chad Wingard marked on the left side of forward 50, and kicked truly.

There was still time for Douglas to kick a behind before the siren went, with the score 6.1 (37) to 3.4 (22).

The home side then struck early. Wingard kicked to the hotspot from 60 out — eight players were shoe-horned into a couple of metres of space, the ball was marked by Ryder at the back. He handballed to Gray who hoisted it into the stands for his second, less than 40 seconds in.

The Crows answered with Walker’s second. Then Patrick Dangerfield climbed high to slap away a kick to Ollie Wines outside 50. He regathered and kicked to the wing. Walker outbodied a Power defender then went long, with second-gamer Riley Knight taking a clean grab and kicking Adelaide’s eighth.

The lead was 21, 12 minutes in.

The Power responded with a goal to Matthew Lobbe, but then the Crows took control.

A snap from Jenkins and two more from Charlie Cameron followed — the Crows were flying, while the Power fans were getting vocal.

Ryder was Port Adelaide’s main target up forward with Lobbe sharing the ruck. Ryder marked from a centre clearance and kicked Port’s sixth, then couldn’t hold a mark but popped up to boot home the rebound to make it 23 points in time on.

Jay Schulz then took an uncontested mark inside 50, and the former Tiger drilled the kick. When the siren sounded, the Crows led 11.3 (69) to 8.4 (52).

Port mounts a comeback

Early in the third, the Power’s Jake Neade burst out of defensive 50, carving through the Crows before eking out a perfect chip to Justin Westhoff. Westhoff kicked to Gray 30m out — Gray handballed to the running Schulz, who narrowed the gap to 11 points.

The home side had kicked the last four, but things quickly turned. A turnover led to Adelaide kicking to the one-out Jenkins, who gathered and booted it home.

A couple of misses from the Crows followed, then another Port Adelaide turnover led to Walker and Eddie Betts raffling a mark near goal. Walker marked, kicked the major and it was back out to 25 points.

Next the Crows went coast-to-coast after spoiling a Power attack — Tom Lynch was on the end of it to kick it from 40.

Yet another Power turnover led to a kick to the scoreboard pocket, where Betts was waiting. He took a bounce, looked up as if to wait for the roar, then bisected the sticks from 25 out.

With nine minutes to go in the third, Adelaide led by 36 — it seemed done and dusted.

On ABC Radio, Peter Walsh put it simply: “Crows running rampant in Showdown 39!”.

But straight from the bounce, Wines found Wingard, who kicked from 55. Neade flew but couldn’t hold the mark — it was a poster, but the kickout went straight to Wingard, who dodged clear and dabbed home his second.

Two minutes later, Wingard took it on the left wing and swept in a kick that would have been a perfect cross in the Premier League.

“This could be something special — Wingard, to an unguarded goal, it rolls … and it’s kicked through!” Walsh told listeners.

“Monfries was there, and he slams it through! Just when you think the Crows have total control, there’s a fightback!”

When Boak snapped a goal from stoppage in time on, the Power were within 17.

But the back and forth continued — the Crows kicked back to back goals, then Schulz kicked his third with a minute left.

The Crows cleared again and Betts chipped to Walker. His diving mark went unpaid, the handball went to Thompson who kicked as he was tackled by Wines. The kick looped crazily and dropped just beyond the despairing grasp of Jackson Trengove.

Thompson had been ruling the roost that day as an in and under midfielder. His gritty approach and refusal to back down had made him a favourite of Crows fans.

He came to the Crows for 2005 after four injury-hit years at Melbourne, going on to play 308 games, averaging more possessions than his more famous teammates in Simon Goodwin, Mark Ricciuto and Andrew McLeod.

But he admits he wasn’t even a Crows fan as a kid.

“I actually went right through Port Adelaide’s junior grades through their development squad, so I had a strong alignment with Port Adelaide,” Thompson says.

“It’s amazing how things pan out and to spend 13 years at a team that as a junior I didn’t watch too closely, or really care about that much. But I had a wonderful time over my 13 years there and I wouldn’t change it at all. Absolutely loved it.”

Despite the Power’s efforts the lead was still above 30 points, and the Crows seemed set for the win. What could Port do?

There were three behinds in the first 10 minutes — the Crows still led by 29 points and time was running out.

But 12 minutes in, Aaron Young intercepted for Port Adelaide and found Wingard, who kicked a goal — the lead was 23.

It was about 10 minutes to sunset as the afternoon stretched into Sunday evening, and the floodlights were on at Adelaide Oval.

Both sides were tiring, but the Power were coming. More misses followed, the margin 21 points.

With six minutes left, Wines kicked to the pocket, and Lobbe stood resolute and marked. Kicking from a narrow angle, watched by a packed hill, he kicked it — 15 points, five minutes.

Soon it was even closer. A 50m penalty led to Power skipper Boak swinging his boot through it and kicking a team-lifting goal.

The Crows were hanging on, as the nerves increased and the clock ticked down.

The last minute (and a bit)

Nine points the difference, and the desperation rising.

The Crows were trying to clear their lines, the ball skittered around near the centre square, and Knight caught Angus Monfries high for a free kick.

Monfries’s high kick came off hands, Wingard barrelled forward like he was making a hit-up in the NRL, then dished out to Hamish Hartlett who braced and fired a handball to Boak. The skipper went sidewards to Gray — and who else would the Power want to kick a goal with the game on the line?

His snap was true, the crowd’s roar was deafening, and the Crows led by three with 66 seconds left.

The centre bounce was furious stuff with bodies crashing in, a slightly dodgy handball from Ryder and no advantage. The second bounce was not much better, with the ball slewing around.

Nathan Krakoeur threw it on the boot in hopes of finding someone in a Port jumper, but it went skywards and was taken by Tom Lynch. 38 seconds left.

Lynch kicked to the wing, where two Power players converged, but could not stop Betts taking the mark.

It was under 30 seconds as the two chairmen, David Koch and Rod Chapman, stood side by side in the race, watching anxiously with arms around each other — another Showdown anomaly on this strangest of days.

Betts went down the line, it was punched forward by Port, but Brad Ebert was caught by Douglas and that was that.

Douglas kicked wide to Henderson, the siren sounded and the Crows had hung on to win by three points, the closest Showdown ever to that point.

In relief or exhaustion, players fell to their knees or pumped their fists as others raced together and the emotions flowed. It was an amazing win, no more so for interim coach Camporeale, who had galvanised the team in a short time.

Years later, Dangerfield told the AFL’s “Last Time I Cried” series about the feeling after Walsh’s death.

“But the Phil one [his death] for me was like someone who’d meant so much to so many people, had galvanised the group so quickly,” Dangerfield said.

“He’d trained us so bloody hard, never allowed to walk during a session — you could either run, or stand still.

“And he was all of a sudden, gone. And we’d seen a real uplift in performance and like ‘this is the right path’ — and it was done.

“[After the Showdown] It was emotional but it wasn’t sad emotion — it was like, the game plan that he’d developed, and that ‘Campo’ had continued on, and had beaten our biggest [rival].”

The crowd that didn’t want to say goodbye

Chris Sheedy says the day brought home all that had happened.

“You kind of understood the gravity of how it impacted everyone’s lives, I suppose, more than just, you lost probably a good friend yourself,” Sheedy says.

“You understood what he meant to so many other people.”

The award for best on ground in Showdowns had always been the Showdown Medal.

For this game, there was an agreed one-off change to the Phil Walsh Medal. The name read out was Thompson’s, whose 36 disposals (22 contested), one goal, eight tackles and 13 clearances stood out.

Thompson hugged Walsh’s daughter Quinn — who was there to present the medal — and started by thanking the Power players.

“Today was definitely played in the right spirit,” Thompson said.

“To the Adelaide Football Club and the Port Adelaide Football Club, a job well done on celebrating the life of a fantastic man, our late coach and a bloke that spent many years with your club.

“And to all the supporters here today, a fantastic job with the tributes. It’s been overwhelming for everyone, thank you very much.”

Warm applause followed. Walker accepted the Showdown Trophy, thanking everyone for their support.

The cameras tracked across players from both sides, with emotion written on the faces.

The clubs then invited fans to stand for a minute’s applause in recognition of Walsh and his legacy and to thank everyone for their support.

Quinn Walsh stood clapping alongside Koch and Chapman, trying to hold her emotions as the clapping swelled for her dad. Virtually no one had left. Indeed, there were suggestions the gates might have been thrown open in the final quarter.

The packed stands rang with heartfelt applause.

Crows and Power fans alike, minutes after yelling their teams home, stood shoulder to shoulder in common cause.

The minute extended to a minute and a half and more, the applause swelling again, with fans exhorting people to keep going — one last moment of connection in a terrible fortnight that had brought the best out of the public, the players and the football community.

It was like they didn’t want to stop — this last opportunity to say farewell, and thanks to Phil Walsh for his contribution to the game they loved.

The aftermath of the game

Camporeale continued as interim coach for the rest of 2015, and while games lacked the emotions of the Eagles match or the Showdown, under his leadership the Crows produced a number of masterpieces in honour of Walsh — five victories out of their last seven matches.

The only losses were to Sydney at the SCG, and Geelong at Kardinia Park.

Adelaide finished seventh, with a 14-9 record, setting up an elimination final against Western Bulldogs at the MCG. They led most of the day but trailed in the final quarter, before a Charlie Cameron goal in time on sealed a seven-point win.

Next up was a semi-final against Hawthorn at the MCG, and that was where the season ended. Luke Breust kicked three goals in the first quarter on his way to a six-goal haul, Hawthorn led by 38 at quarter-time, and the Crows were eliminated with a 74-point loss. The Hawks would match Brisbane of the early 2000s with their third straight flag.

Patrick Dangerfield left for Victoria to join Geelong. Despite the success, Camporeale opted not to apply for the full-time post as coach.

The Crows chose former Adelaide and West Coast assistant coach Don Pyke. Under Pyke — with Camporeale as assistant — they made the grand final in 2017, losing to Richmond.

Time has moved on, and the Crows are coached by Matthew Nicks now. But Phil Walsh’s name is still remembered in Adelaide.

A year on from his death, the Crows planted a tree in the grounds near Adelaide Oval and unveiled a plaque in honour of Walsh. That tree continues to grow, and the memories do not all fade with time.

Chris Sheedy has now been at the Crows for five years, where he is the head of football strategy.

“You often walk past that tree and definitely know which one it is. It’s always something that’s front and centre with us as a club and with the people who knew Phil,” Sheedy says.

“It [Walsh’s death] pops up on memories and Facebook feeds and all those type of things, and it definitely doesn’t feel like 10 years. I always remember where we were at the time in Sydney.

“And for me personally, I remember the circle after the [Collingwood] game and being on the ground and they turn off the lights … and I still can’t hear that Birds of Tokyo song [Lanterns] without thinking of Phil.”