Ken Hinkley has been lauded by pundits for an “exceptional” coaching performance as the Port Adelaide coach shared a heartfelt tribute to a much-loved club figure who recently passed away.
The Power wore black armbands during their win over St Kilda on Friday night in honour of long-serving football operations assistant Di Pounsett, who died on Tuesday at the age of 69 following an illness.
Ms Pounsett joined the Power as football manager assistant upon their entry into the AFL in 1996. She was awarded life membership of the club in 2011.
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“It was a really sad week for our footy club. We lost our football PA, Di Pounsett. She’s been an amazing person, she’d been at our footy club since we entered the AFL. She lost her battle this week for her life,” Hinkley told reporters post-game.
“I know there’s some people in this footy club that are really close to her. Chris (Davies), myself, all the players, she’s done so much for our footy club. Di, and I saw her on Monday, she always would say ‘bring the four points home’. We brought the four points home for you Di, and, we love you.
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“She was Port Adelaide – that’s what we think of her. She’d like me to say funny things around her and she was the hardest lady you could ever possibly want to work with and give you a clip when you didn’t think you deserved it, but she made sure she knew who was boss and get it right from now. Chris and I weren’t bosses at this footy club, Di was.
“She’d be loving that fact now and I know she’d be watching down on it with a big, big smile on her face.”
After a 71-point loss to Collingwood then a 31-point Showdown defeat to Adelaide, the Power have now won their past four consecutive matches – a feat triple premiership forward Cameron Mooney on Fox Footy Live labelled “one of the great turnarounds”.
The Power had less disposals (-48), contested possessions (-2) and inside 50s (-5) than the Saints, but were still able to get the victory.
“They were exceptional,” eight-time All-Australian Nathan Buckley told Fox Footy.
“You’ve got to give credit to the coaching group – and the confidence of the players to come to Marvel and get this done – but they took away any extra player from St Kilda in the back-half, they made it a contest in as many places on the field as they could and then they went to work.”
Four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis pointed out how Port Adelaide successfully responded to every tactical Saints challenge, making the game “a little bit messy” after St Kilda’s early blitz before controlling possession in the last quarter.
“I thought it was a really mature win. If you look at the game and the breakdown of the quarter, I think Port Adelaide had to do it differently nearly every quarter,” Lewis told Fox Footy.
“The way Ken coached, the way the players played and adapted throughout the game was really mature.”
St Kilda Press Conference | 08:41
Former Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon said Hinkley’s decision to turn Friday night’s contest into a “running game” paid dividends.
“Port Adelaide five years ago were the most powerful team in the competition. (High performance guru) Darren Burgess was there and he had them that fit and powerful. They got back to the running game (on Friday night),” Dixon told Fox Footy Live.
“Ross (Lyon) has said time and time again that his team is one of the fittest … but they outworked St Kilda. I know they’re coming off a five-day break, but you’ve still got to be able to execute it.
“What they (the Power) did from defensive 50 to forward 50, they had 20 less marks – so they just took the game on and they turned the heat up on St Kilda and they got on their bike.
“I love the fact Ken turned it into a running game.”
