Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr admits it stings.

Carr's Power enter Friday night's clash with just one win from the past six clashes against arch-foe Adelaide - their most recent loss was a record 98-point margin in round 21 last year.

"It stings the football club," Carr said of Adelaide's recent success.

"But it's not going to make a difference to what we put out there.

"We've been only worried about the next moment and what happens tomorrow night, rather than what's happened yesterday or the day before."

The Crows hold an edge overall, 30-28 - remarkably, 20 games between the rivals have been decided by two goals or less.

Friday night's fixture will be Carr's first as Port's coach but he played in 17 Showdowns.

"What happened in showdowns back in my day, versus what it looks like, now, it's completely different," he said.

"We understand that a Showdown isn't just any game ... there's always a little bit more on it for both football clubs."

Port (11th, 3-4) replaced Jack Watkins with Todd Marshall.

Adelaide (13th, 3-4) appear far from settled with captain Jordan Dawson (personal reasons) among four changes - Charlie Edwards, Finnbar Maley and Nick Murray were all axed.

Young gun Dan Curtin returns for his first AFL game since a dislocated kneecap last January with Alex Neal-Bullen, Jake Soligo and James Borlase were also summoned.

"We'll just keep working through what that mix of players is," Crows coach Matthew Nicks said of finding a winning formula.

"At the moment, we've just got a few that aren't at their best. We're not at our best.

"But we're actually really optimistic about being in that position - that we know we've still got better in us. We want to find that as soon as we can."