SANFL's ploy to divide and conquer in Adelaide Oval review will test new pact between AFL rivals Crows and Power Power captain Travis Boak and Adelaide Crows star Rory Sloane. FOR much of the past 25 years, the SANFL has relied on the great divide between AFL rivals Adelaide and Port Adelaide to win in major battles in SA football. Divide and conquer. Generally - but not always - the SANFL would appease the less-demanding and stronger Crows and leave the smaller Port Adelaide on a limb. As the Adelaide Oval stadium review enters its 133rd day, the SA Football Commission may expect the old formula to break the impasse - and the so-far strong pact between the Crows and Power to not compromise on their demand for at least 70 cents in every dollar banked at the city venue. Obviously, it would be easier to satisfy the Adelaide Football Club in a new stadium deal at the Oval. The profitable Crows would appear to need fewer concessions from the landlord, the SANFL, than the financially challenged Port Adelaide. The Crows insist they will not roll over ... the pact is solid. And the key to this vow is new Adelaide chief executive Andrew Fagan. Having grown up outside SA and made his way in sporting administration away from SA football, the former Canberra Brumbies and Australian Rugby union executive has no loyalties to the SANFL. Fagan's focus is strongly fixed to the needs of the Adelaide Football Club in an ultra-competitive 18-team national competition where the AFL is not beholden to the old power clubs (such as Collingwood) or consumed by concern for the new franchises (such as Greater Western Sydney). Getting the Oval stadium deal right is just as critical for the Crows as it is for the Power. So Fagan will grasp for every cent he can pump into the Adelaide Football Club coffers, particularly those on offer from Adelaide Oval. Together, in their pact, Adelaide and Port Adelaide believe they should have collected an extra $4 million in their opening season at the Oval. So far, the SANFL has offered $2.5 million - and promises to make up the $1.5 million shortfall by gradually lifting the stadium return to the clubs across the next five years. But the Crows and Power want the 70 cents in a dollar today - not in 2019. And they are not excited by the "bonuses" the SANFL has offered in the negotiations. These include handing more money to the AFL tenants if they can beat their 2014 standards. The Crows note this is far from a lucrative compromise from the SANFL. Adelaide delivered AFL-best attendance averages this season - a club record 48,046 in a stadium with 53,500 capacity. There is not much room - nor certainty - for beating that mark year after year. Adelaide may think again if the SANFL offered to release the extra income generated at the Oval for beating the Crows" average attendance at Football Park - 39,965 from 1991-2013. In Port Adelaide's case, the bonus marker would be 27,991 - the Power's average attendance at Football Park from 1997-2013 - rather than the club-record mark of 44,364 from this season at the Oval. As fierce as the Crows and Power are as on-field rivals, they have never been so tight on an issue such as the Oval stadium review. Divide and conquer may not work for the SANFL this time.