Port Adelaide will not make a call on whether senior coach Ken Hinkley continues in his role until close to the end of the 2023 season.
Hinkley said that he, the club board, led by chairman David Koch, and club administration had already agreed “100 per cent” that there would be no decision on whether he continued as coach until August.
“We’ve got a commitment to go to the end of the season, with David and the board and myself – and the whole footy department – on the same page,” Hinkley told The Age. “We’ll get to August before decisions are made.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley.Credit:AFL Photos
“You can ask anyone at our club and you’ll get the same response.”
Hinkley is entering his 11th season at the helm of the Power, having followed consecutive preliminary final appearances in 2020 and 2021 – the former a narrow loss to eventual premiers Richmond – with what he said was a “disappointing year” in 2022, when the Power lost their first five games, recovered to win 10 out of 17 with several close losses, and missed the finals.
“All I know, from a club point of view, from David, myself, Chris, the board, everyone’s on the same page,” said Hinkley of this season.
“We all understand a performance industry and we’re not naive to that. But what we do know is that nothing’s achieved by making silly decisions or crazy decisions. We’ll prepare to get the season right, and really important to get the start of the season again right, and we’ll get through the season and see what happens from there.
“But all I know is that as a club, I’m really proud of the fact that we’re on the same page, that we know what we’re doing. Eleventh year doesn’t matter in some ways. The pressure comes from people outside and it comes on the coach, I get that. But our club knows what’s coming and we also know how to handle it.”
Hinkley indicated there would be goodwill in discussing his future. “Ultimately it goes to the club and the board. They make those decisions ultimately, but it will be a joint discussion with confidence in each other to do the right thing.
“I’m really relaxed about it.”
Hinkley said the Power could contend for the premiership this year.
“We can be as good as anyone. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. We had a really disappointing year last year from a performance point of view. The two years previous we were a really strong footy club, won a lot of games of footy, made two prelim finals, but that doesn’t mean any guarantee you get back. Got to get the start right, I think that’s the critical issue.
“We’ve just got our entire focus on trying to get our start to the season because we know last year at zero and five we were never going to recover, as much as we went 10 and seven the last 17 – zero and five puts you out of the game.
“What can we achieve? Who knows in a really tight, tough competition. You need a little bit of luck along the way. But I would imagine there’s 10 or 12 teams today, maybe more that really think they can push up high in the ladder. We’re one of those teams.
“I think there’s 10 or 12 teams, getting it all right, can definitely contend for the flag … we never have a thought that we’re starting any season not thinking that we can contend. That’s not us. We don’t talk in rebuild or re-establishment.”
Hinkley, who is counting on emerging talents such as Connor Rozee, Zak Butters, Xavier Duursma, Todd Marshall and others to propel improvement, pointed out that few people thought Collingwood could contend last year and that momentum played a major role in club’s fortunes.
Hinkley said he did not speak to Essendon about the coaching role Brad Scott ultimately took. “No … clearly I was staying at Port Adelaide,” he said. “I’ll go on at Port, I hope. That’s all I’m worried about. What’s next? I don’t know what’s next … all I’ve got is a responsibility to concentrate on now.”
