Port Adelaide’s last-gasp win over Sydney was clearly extra special for coach Ken Hinkley after a tumultuous week where his position was labelled ‘untenable’ by club great Warren Tredrea.
Following an underwhelming start to the season, you could see how much it meant to Hinkley, who’s out of contract in his 11th campaign in charge, celebrating with his players on the final siren in great scenes after Oliver Florent’s potential game-winning shot came up short.
Trailing by 20 points midway through the fourth quarter, Port kicked four of the last five goals including the match-winner to Jeremy Finlayson, who made a touching tribute to his terminally ill wife Kellie post-match.
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Kane Cornes meanwhile took to social media to throw his support behind Hinkley, with the Power legend posting on Twitter: “Lucky they didn’t sack the coach.”
Expanding on AFL Media’s The Round So Far, Cornes highlighted how significant the win was for Port Adelaide, improving to 2-2 to get its season back on track.
“They’ve now beaten Brisbane and Sydney – two very good sides. They’ve lost to Collingwood, who are also a very good side, and Adelaide are good as well. So their draw’s been difficult,” Cornes said.
“To keep their season alive like that after the criticism the club has been under this week was one of their more famous moments so far this season.”
Port now sits on the cusp of the top eight ahead of its huge Gather Round meeting with the Western Bulldogs next weekend.
Speaking after the win over the Swans, Hinkley downplayed the external pressure he and his club faced this week in the aftermath of its Showdown loss to Adelaide.
“Footy is good – it does all sorts of things to you and sends you to all sorts of places,” the Power coach told reporters.
“Ultimately you have to be willing to go to those places, and as a footy club and as a team, we had to go some of those places.
“It wasn’t a difficult week, it was a normal week in footy. The difficulty with some weeks is there’s a bit more commentary around winning and losing.
“That’s the game, that’s what we face and that’s always been a part of it, scrutiny happens.
“When you lose, you leave yourself open. We didn’t want to lose last week, but we did.
“We’re really grateful we got a chance to come up here tonight and play together and stick together and win.”
Coaching from the interchange for the first time against Sydney, Hinkley said he felt it was important to stay connected with his players.
Port clinch win as Swans denied on siren | 02:57
“It was a moment in this week where we felt like we’re working together and we’re trying to stick together,” he said.
“I’d done it in the pre-season, so I’d had an experience at it and I’ve seen lots of good coaches do it.
“The challenges for me are I can’t quite see the game that well, but I thought a really important part of this week was to stick together.
“I thought for me and the players to spend time together on the bench was pretty important.
“They showed their support all week and I wanted to return the favour and show my support.”
Asked if he would continue to coach from the bench, Hinkley said with a laugh: “I’ve been told I’m not allowed to go back up.
“Who knows. It’s a difficult ground because the coaches box here is a difficult box to watch out of … Adelaide Oval gives me a fantastic view.
“I think I’m going to get pushed to be down there a little bit perhaps next week anyhow so we’ll see what happens.
“Let’s review the whole game and not make any knee jerk reactions, it’s not one thing or the other that does that, it’s a whole lot of work that goes into a successful win.”
Port Adelaide Press Conference | 09:13
