YES: Alex Malcolm
Pre-season showdowns and western derbies make perfect sense for one simple reason – logistics. The one constant concern for clubs across Australia is the travel factor. Holding a pre-season showdown or derby saves SA and WA clubs an extra trip in the pre-season and allows teams a fairer preparation in the lead-up to round one.
It also legitimises the pre-season in some ways. The Crows and Power won't say it publicly, but there is a little extra incentive, subconsciously or otherwise, for the players to play to win, as opposed to simply working on structures and game plans.
The fans love winding up their crosstown rivals about a win in any competition, be it pre-season or home and away, and the losing fans' response is always to question the legitimacy of a pre-season win. All of which leads to heightened interest in the first showdown of the premiership season.
The administrators of the clubs also see great value in pre-season showdowns and derbies because the crowds are always bigger than if the home side was facing an interstate club.
NO: Harry Thring
There's nothing quite like a showdown on South Australia's football calendar; the same can be said for western derbies in Western Australia or any of the game's biggest rivalries, for that matter. The affected city divides as football allegiance bubbles to the surface.
In Adelaide, it began almost 20 years ago: Showdown I in 1997, when Rod Jameson and Scott Cummings went toe-to-toe in the goal square. Defining moments in these types of battles mean more than they would in any other game.
Take Hayden Ballantyne's miss after the siren against West Coast in 2011; the pain of so narrowly missing victory was certainly greater, given the pride on the line. Or rewind back to 2006 when Fremantle skipper Peter Bell found Paul Hasleby inside 50 with the Dockers down by a point and just over a minute remaining on the clock. The second overall pick at the 1999 draft slotted the goal, winning the game for the Dockers and sending his team into a finals-like celebration.
These games are precious occasions to be savoured – not to be diluted by pre-season practice games.
Whether it's Adelaide taking on Port Adelaide, Fremantle versus West Coast or Collingwood and Carlton fighting for bragging rights, the AFL's biggest rivalries should be reserved for when there's something real on the line.
