A final-quarter fightback fell short for Adelaide in its SANFL Showdown against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Friday, with the Crows going down by 20 points.

The majority of the game was played in one half of the ground, with all the scoring coming from the northern end - 27 of the games' 33 goals were booted to the side kicking towards the Adelaide Oval Hill.

Ultimately, Port Adelaide proved to be the more polished side when entering 50, to claim a 18.10 (118)  15.8 (98) win.

Here are SANFL Senior Coach Matthew Wrights five key takeaways from the match.

Murray switches forward

Backman Nick Murray spent the afternoon playing as a forward, after training in the position during the week.

Murray established his aerial presence and gave Adelaide a reliable target up forward.

After working his way into the game, Murray proved to be a handful for Port Adelaide’s defenders, and booted an equal team-high three goals.

“It’s a new role for him, we know what he can do down back, so does this provide him another opportunity to play AFL footy,” Wright said.

“I thought he competed really strongly today, even for those three quarters when the game wasn’t on our terms I thought he was one.”

Murray ended the game  with 10 disposals, five marks – two contested – and three tackles.

O'Brien's leadership shines through 

Ruckman Reilly O’Brien set the tone from the opening bounce, out working his direct opponent both around the ground and in the ruck.

O’Brien covered the ground effectively, took multiple marks and provided his teammates a target when exiting the back half.

“In that second quarter he took some really important marks that kept us in the game and generated a bit of ball movement as well,” Wright said.

“His ability to compete for us has been super consistent this year and he is one that probably saved us in that first half.”

O’Brien recorded 23 disposals, eight marks, 26 hit-outs and 11 clearances.

Sholl connects out of back half

Wing Lachlan Sholl provided a valuable outside option for the on-ballers throughout the game, and was able to get run and carry and effective by foot.

Sholl worked back to support in the defensive half and played an important role in getting Adelaide on the offensive in the second and fourth term.

“I thought Sholly did well to generate some ball out of the back half, probably too skewed in the back half but that is where the game took him,” Wright said.

“We’d like him connecting with our forwards, but I thought he worked really hard tonight.”

Sholl finished with a team-high 31 disposals, 10 marks and three inside 50s.

Nankervis anchors defence with consistent performance

Defender Luke Nankervis spent the game playing across half-back where he was able to control the ball in the air.

Nankervis generated some strong ball use out of the back half, hitting up targets or taking the game on with his legs to get the ball moving forward, with Wright labelling his game as consistent.

“I thought he was one that was pretty consistent over the four quarters, he was able to control the air across half back,” he said.

“He was probably one of a few that had a pretty balanced game, really pleasing for him to come back and perform the way he did.”

Nankervis amassed 26 disposals, a game-high 14 marks and five rebound-50s.

Crows on-ballers show grit

Crows midfielders Chayce Jones, Charlie Edwards, Sid Draper and Billy Dowling all battled hard throughout the match, with Adelaide only losing the clearance count by three (32-29).

Wight was pleased with his on-ballers' efforts and their ability to dig deep while under pressure.

“I thought as a midfield group, clearance numbers weren’t too bad, I thought we were pretty even and they may have just won that,” Wright said.

“Those players had some really important moments, unfortunately it’s probably moments and not that four quarter consistency that we were after tonight.”

Jones collected 17 disposals and six tackles, Edwards amassed 22 touches and seven inside 50s, Draper had 13 disposals and three clearances, while Dowling finished with 19 touches and eight inside 50s.

The game served as a curtain raiser to the AFL Showdown.

Adelaide’s SANFL side next game will be against Sturt at Unley Oval on Saturday at 2:10pm.

SCOREBOARD

ADELAIDE: 1.4  5.6  6.7  15.8 (98)

PORT: 5.5  6.8  15.9  18.10  (118)

GOALS:

Adelaide: N Murray, Maley, Drury 3, Bennett, Marsh 2, Ludowyke, Welsh.

Port Adelaide: Moore 4, Barrett, Walsh 3, O’Driscoll, Elbrow 2, Brodie, Lorenz, Cavallaro, Couroupis.