Jordan Dawson is swamped by teammates after winning the Showdown after the siren on Friday night. Photo: AFL MEDIA

AFL fans have become pretty cynical about the concept of rivalry, these days often dragged out more for marketing purposes than as an accurate description of games between two particular teams.

Yet there are still match-ups which genuinely set the blood racing before a ball is bounced, and Round 3 sees two of the better ones of the modern era, namely the South Australian “Showdown” and the West Australian derby.

Indeed, it’s the rivalries beyond the Victorian border which many fans would argue these days are the real must-watch games on the AFL calendar, more so than the acknowledged “big ticket” rivalries between, say, Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon.

Some of those are still relying heavily on a narratives spun decades ago, the quality of the actual games themselves sometimes leaving plenty to be desired.

What makes a compelling rivalry? There’s significance of the occasion, meaning finals clashes loom large. There’s the tendency in genuine rivalries of immediate form sometimes playing little part in the outcome. And there’s the contest itself. Dramatic? Controversial? Close?

On that last count, it will always be hard to go past that classic Sydney-West Coast era of 2005-07, when no fewer than six games between the Swans and Eagles, two of them grand finals, were decided by an aggregate of just 13 points.

When it comes to margins, however unlikely it sounds, even Gold Coast v St Kilda could have its claims. The last five meetings of the Suns and Saints have produced winning margins of nine, four, four, one and two points. That’s tight.

That’s one reason we’ve left out an often popular suggestion of Greater Western Sydney-Western Bulldogs, only one of their past six meetings decided by anything less than 39 points.

So what are the best rivalries going on in the AFL right now? See what you make of these.

1. ADELAIDE v PORT ADELAIDE
How did it take this long to get this blockbuster into a Friday night timeslot? And even then not a standalone game? But Jordan Dawson’s post-siren matchwinner for the Crows might just have ensured it’s a timeslot that becomes permanent. There’s no questioning the antipathy factor here, historically, culturally, you name it. And the overall scoreline is close, too, now 26-25 Port Adelaide’s way. There’s been innumerable Showdowns in which form has proved no indicator whatsoever of what might happen. Most importantly, there’s just been some absolutely ripping games, Port’s four-point win over the Crows in Round 21 last year only the most recent example until that incredible finish on Friday evening. Steven Motlop’s matchwinner and the incredible conclusion to that May 2018 clash stick in the mind, and Josh Jenkins getting revenge for the Crows later in the season. And there’s that still-unbelievable Angus Monfries “off-break” in 2013, arguably the most unlikely goal in history! This match-up has it all!

2. SYDNEY v GWS
In the battle of long-term sustainability, the club and the AFL itself would be delighted by the Giants being on any rivalry list. But you can’t argue the toss on this one with their inner-city foes. It’s a rivalry clearly these days far from contrived. And the stakes attached have a lot to do with it, the Giants and Swans having met three times in finals over the past six years, GWS winning all three and, most famously, knocking Sydney out of the finals in Launceston last year in a dramatic, against-the-odds one-point victory when the Swans blew chance after chance to win the game. Both teams have been legitimately among the AFL’s upper echelon of teams for the bulk of that period, and to add a little further spice, both have hit back hard recently after each looked at some stage like a longish rebuild was on the cards.

3. COLLINGWOOD v WEST COAST
This clash is definitely a “usual suspect” in any rivalry list, but it remains a very worthy nomination, unlike many of the more established rivalries in the AFL, recent results adding, not detracting from the narrative. Last year’s two clashes between the clubs were relatively uneventful, but prior to that, these two had served up three games out of five decided by five points or less, two of those finals, and one, famously, a grand final. Dom Sheed’s 2018 grand final matchwinner for the Eagles is already one of the game’s most memorable moments, and Collingwood’s amazing one-point win in Perth in the 2020 elimination final one of finals football’s biggest upsets. The Pies, indeed, pulled off another one-point heist in Perth the previous season, and their qualifying final loss in Perth in 2018 was also high quality. Few match-ups bring the drama like the Pies and Eagles.

4. GEELONG v HAWTHORN
We’re trying not to be overly-sentimental here, and it’s fair to say that after being the game’s undisputed No.1 rivalry for a long time, the Cats v Hawks’ status is under serious threat, largely via Hawthorn’s drop-off as a power team over the last couple of years. We’d still argue there’s enough there to keep it in this list for now, though, and the regular Easter Monday timeslot the Cats and Hawks have occupied has plenty to do with that. Even their last clash (won by Geelong by five points) was a beauty, the Cats just managing to stave off a desperate Hawthorn comeback. Given Hawthorn’s great start to 2022, perhaps another epic is on the cards when they meet again in a couple of weeks.

5. MELBOURNE v GEELONG
This one isn’t on many people’s rivalry lists, but we reckon it has plenty to recommend it, certainly in terms of currency. Four of the last eight clashes between the Demons and Cats have finished in margins of four points or less. Two of those have been decided after the siren, Zac Tuohy winning the game for the Cats in 2018, and Demon skipper Max Gawn earning his team the minor premiership last year with a straight kick after the final bell. Then there’s the season-opener in which Gawn missed a chance to win virtually on the siren in 2018. Two more meetings have been in finals, Melbourne triumphant both times, so crushingly in last year’s preliminary final that it raised yet more “end of an era?” queries about its opponent. Geelong being Geelong though, there’s every chance the Cats will still be a player when the two teams finally meet this season in Round 17.

This article first appeared at ESPN.