Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley and his Crows counterpart Matthew Nicks kicked off their traditional joint pre-Showdown press conference with a hug, a laugh and an insistence "we like each other" - before taking turns to add fuel to the AFL's most acerbic rivalry.
Ahead of the bitter rivals' most-recent stoush last August - which the Power won by 56 points - the build-up was so acrimonious the two coaches took the rare step of conducting separate Showdown-eve press conferences.
