ELATION, pride and some bottled-up frustration prompted some entertaining celebrations from Ken Hinkley after the Power's thrilling win in Showdown 44.

A pumped-up Port Adelaide coach signalled 0-5 with his hands, signalling the end of the Crows' dominance over his side in recent seasons.

He then clapped the crowd of 50,967 and gave the Power mascot a high-five as he marched down into the rooms.



FULL MATCH DETAILS: All the stats and stories from Power v Crows

"I was sick of 0-5 and the team was sick of 0-5. It was a bit too silly wasn't it by me but that's the emotion of this game sometimes," Hinkley said.

"You trust them, you believe in them and you want them to do well, that's all I care about.

"They try bloody hard every week and 0-5 just comes about sometimes."



TALKING POINTS: Gray grabs Showdown by the scruff of the neck

Trailing by 21 points at half-time, Port Adelaide looked set for six losses in a row against its old foe when Adelaide kicked the first goal of the third quarter.

But the Power exploded from that point, led by Showdown Medallist Robbie Gray who kicked five for the term.

Hinkley said it again showed why Gray is among the AFL's elite.



WATCH: Ken Hinkley's full press conference

"If you ask me he's the best player in the league right now, tonight, because he kicks six in a Showdown," he said.

"He's in the top lot."

Gray was modest about his performance but thrilled with what it meant to his team in the context of the season.

"The ball just kept coming and everything just seemed to be clicking and I was really happy that I was able to finish off and put it on the scoreboard," he said.

"It was big build up for us this week, we were really disappointed after last week.

"The emotion I felt when that siren went is right up there with anything across my footy career, so it's certainly a special one."



WATCH THE GAMEBREAKER: Five goals in a quarter for Gray

Hinkley also praised Tom Rockliff for a workmanlike performance in the midfield allowing the Power to keep Gray in attack.

"Rockliff was outstanding, he was enormous, that was why we brought him to the club," he said.

"It allows you to put scoring threats in the scoring space and that's what we were able to do tonight because Rocky got the job done and Steven (Motlop) kicked a great goal."

There was also a pat on the back for the Adelaide Oval crowd.

"The noise that they made tonight, I just thought, 'Wow – it's good to have them back' and I hope they hang around with us and stick with us and ride the bumps with us," Hinkley said.

"I think they got us over the line tonight."