FOR SIX years of Marty Mattner’s AFL career, a clash against Port Adelaide was anything but “just another week” of the season.

The fierce rivalry between South Australia’s two AFL teams meant Mattner and his former Adelaide teammates couldn’t help but treat the game as a special event.

Despite playing in 11 Showdowns as a Crow, it didn’t take the 26-year-old long to adjust after his move to the Swans at the end of 2007.

“It’s a bit different in Adelaide. There’s a bit more hype about the game and the rivalry in Adelaide is such a big thing,” he said.

“The week’s pumped up pretty massively in the media but, over here, I just treat it like another week.

“We really need another win, so it’s a pretty important game for us but most games are going to be important for the rest of the year.”

With Port Adelaide boasting a plethora of pacy outside runners, Mattner said the Swans would target Power ruckmen Dean Brogan and Brendon Lade in a bid to slow service to their midfielders.

“If we can negate the ruckman’s role and the way they get it out to [Danyle] Pearce and those sort of guys, their quick midfielders, we’ll restrict their use of the ball into the forward line and how they use [Warren] Tredrea, [Brett] Ebert and [Daniel] Motlop,” he said.

“They’ve got some key players and if we can stop them, we’re half way to winning the game.”

The Swans have found it tough to string together successive wins this season but their back six have been among the most consistent performers.

The addition of Rhyce Shaw has given the Swans extra pace off the last line and Mattner said he relished playing alongside the former Collingwood speedster.

“He’s fitted in beautifully. It feels like he’s been here for a few years now,” he said.

“He’s added another dimension to our game, being able to run and take on players. I guess that’s relieved the pressure on a few of the other guys, but we’ve still got to step up. We can’t really leave it up to him.

“We’ve got to play our own games and help him out, because he does create a lot of run. If we can help him out and run with him, it makes it a lot easier.”

It appears Shaw’s attacking instincts have already rubbed off on some of his teammates with Mattner already havi9ng equalled his career-best tally of goals in a season.

Granted, he’s only split the middle five times in eight weeks but that’s a veritable goal rush for a player more accustomed to plying his trade at the other end of the ground.

“I guess I’ve just been a bit lucky with a couple of them that went over the back. There was one of those against West Coast and I was lucky to run on to that,” Mattner said in typically modest fashion.

“I just think I’m probably trying to be a bit more attacking this year and create some more run from defence. It’s just one of the things that the whole team’s been working on – we’re all trying to get a lot more shots on goal.”