Port Adelaide pair Ollie Wines and Darcy Byrne-Jones have both taken a bat to cross-town rivals Crows ahead of Saturday night's season-ending Showdown LII.
Both of Ken Hinkley's stars have publicly expressed their sentiments towards their arch nemesis, giving Adelaide a figurative 'whack' with both sides set to battle it out for bragging rights in the Round 23 clash.
Speaking to 7NEWS Adelaide, the Brownlow Medallist weighed in by exclaiming his hatred for the Crows isn't down to personal reasons.
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EXCLUSIVE: Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines has taken aim at the Crows ahead of Saturday night's Showdown. @pafc legend Chad Cornes said he hates their crosstown rivals and @Wines16 has doubled down. All the Showdown action is LIVE and FREE this Saturday on @ch7adelaide. #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/ajeumJ90R1
— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) August 18, 2022
"I won't get too personal on the news at this stage but I do [dislike the Crows]," Wines said on Thursday.
"There are certain things about that football club I don't like, I think that it's the DNA of the club and what they're about."
Only a few hours after his interview, teammate Darcy Byrne-Jones further added fuel to the fire with AFL.com.au by exclaiming his disdain for the noisy neighbours.
"Personally, I don't hold anything against them as people. But as a club, I don't really like their club - it's a pretty simple answer," he said.
For the first time since 2019, both sides based in the city of churches will not be appearing in September meaning that the only thing that will be on the line come Saturday is pure bragging rights.
Their earlier encounter in Round 3 saw a thrilling finish as new Crows recruit Jordan Dawson kicked a goal after the siren to snatch the four points from the Power and keep Ken Hinkley's side winless for the year.
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Both sides have had below-par season 2022, with Port Adelaide in particular falling far down the ladder relative to their run to a consecutive preliminary final in 2021.
Despite this, there will be no love lost in the encounter with these comments only serving as material for Matthew Nicks to use in his pre-match rev-up.
The Power have plenty of impetus to win with club great Robbie Gray playing his last game at AFL football, with Hinkley's men surely itching to send him off on a high.
