Port Adelaide are not playing finals football in 2019. The Power have missed the finals in four of the past five seasons and not managed to win a final since 2014.
Half a decade without a finals victory and it’s easy to see why there is a lot of unrest in the fan base.
If Brisbane and Essendon execute a September victory this year, then 14 teams will have recorded a finals win since Port last achieved this feat.
Conversing with club members and scrolling through social media, you examine a wide range of emotions and opinions from the faithful on what has gone wrong.
Players, coaches, recruitment, skills, game plan, team selection, financial sponsorship, management, the foray into China. You name it – it’s under the spotlight.
Regrettably, some of this passionate debate has seen some fans turn on each other. So much for never tear us apart.
Challenge or rebuild
Opposition fans may have their own observations on what has transpired in the last five years at Alberton, but a significant turnover of players and assistant coaches has not translated to any meaningful success or a sustainable spike in performance.
At the end of 2017, Jack Watts, Steven Motlop and Tom Rockliff arrived at Alberton and some pundits believed Port had the foundations to seriously challenge for a premiership.
This did not go according to plan and a year later Chad Wingard and Jared Polec departed with the narrative that a rebuild or list refresh was required.
New draftees Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma had an instant impact in 2019 but this also helped perpetuate the myth the Power were fielding a team of kids on a weekly basis.
Coach Ken Hinkley has taken the brunt of the fan anger. He has been the one constant along with his right-hand man Michael Voss, CEO Keith Thomas and president David Koch overseeing five years of mid-table mediocrity.
The contract extension for Hinkley at the end of 2017 continues to look more perplexing as time goes by. On the back of missing finals two out of the previous three years, the coach was rewarded with a new deal despite being contracted in 2018.
(AAP Image/Kelly Barnes)
When performance is not the most important KPI for a coach it sets a very dangerous precedent.
Club expectation
Historically Port Adelaide have been a high-achieving club. As the club constantly reminds its own members and anyone else who will listen, we exist to win premierships.
Supporters want to see a plan, direction, improvement and they need hope. Winning a premiership every year is not pragmatic and making finals is not always realistic.
This is something Port fans have become comfortable with in recent times. No finals in seven of the last ten years is a poor return for any team that has standards.
A small percentage of fans can be guilty of completely overrating the team they support but it’s important to cite that it was the football club and not the members that set the benchmark of finals as the pass mark in 2019.
David Koch publicly declared this on multiple occasions.
“Our pass or fail mark that we set ourselves is making the finals,” he told The Age in July. “We’ve got to deliver that.”
The Sunrise host divides public opinion and is outspoken on occasion. In this instance, however, the exact same sentiments were echoed by Hinkley, assistant coaches, board members and the players.
The Port Adelaide community is proud of previous successes but make no mistake about it, they are acutely aware they are in the AFL and no longer the big fish in the SANFL pond.
The results over the last five years and the majority of the last decade are poor results regardless of the competition.
Media analysis
The media coverage on Port Adelaide has been fascinating all year. Select few like Warren Tredrea, Paul Roos and David King have condemned game style and player output when warranted.
Other media have been more friendly. Ken Hinkley was a regular guest on AFL 360 with Mark Robinson and Gerard Whateley throughout the year.
Even after poor performances, the senior coach escaped scrutiny with most segments presented like a BBQ with Uncle Kenny.
More of the same for Ken on his regular SEN appearances with Kane Cornes. Cornes is a critical pundit, but he refuses to blame the coach. The blowtorch is typically reserved for the players and other areas such as list management.
Member engagement
Port Adelaide is very aware of current member dissatisfaction. 2019 membership numbers and home crowd attendances heading south.
(Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
CEO Keith Thomas wrote an open letter to members last month and again this week on radio tried to shift some of the blame.
“We had a drop off in membership this year,” he told SEN. “That’s significant for us. That hurts. I think that is a result of frustration. One of the reasons I wrote the note that I wrote was to start to broaden the conversation (outside of Ken Hinkley).”
The announcement of co-captains Ollie Wines and Tom Jonas got many members offside very early in the year, breaking away from the club tradition of having one skipper.
At the members convention on the eve of the season, the message was loud and clear: “We are going to play an exciting and attacking brand of football.”
This is the kind of statement that will get a loud cheer from the room, but when you reflect at the end of the season and look at all the statistical evidence, it simply didn’t occur on a regular basis.
Crossroads
The 2020 campaign is a significant one for Port Adelaide, who will be celebrating their 150th anniversary.
The die-hard fans will continue to pour money into membership, merchandise, corporate events and so on.
Disenchanted fans are the ones that need to be won back and whose support and financial contributions are still required if you are to believe some of the discussion around the club’s financial position.
So what now? There must be accountability for the last five years that goes beyond token player list changes, cliches and good news stories from the club website.
A complete independent review is a necessity. Many Port fans have lost faith in the decisions made by the current administration so an external audit of all football operations would be a good starting point to appease fears that 2020 is not going to follow an all too familiar script. That also means actually acting on some of the findings.
The CEO and all major Port Adelaide stakeholders have a massive task ahead in changing the current trajectory and generating trust, belief and unity amongst the fans before next season.
RT
Roar Rookie
Why would that he more perplexing? It is obvious. The VFL expanded to become the AFL, but it is the same competition. That is just how it is.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
I would trade SPP, I love him but it's either him or Drew, Drew might end up the better player and SPP has draft currency, we'd be looking for an end of first round pick for him I'd assume
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Google South Bunbury Maxine and you will see a more successful senior club. SANFL Premierships are 2nd rate.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
SA- South Australia (geographical location) N- National (indicating it is of the nation) F- Football (as in Australian Football) L- League (the auspices under which a competition is formed) Sorry for the pedantic sarcasm.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I must be 22. But I've been hating Port since 1966. Only a Victorian could say this.
Samuel Cox
Roar Pro
The conditional nature of your ‘support’ is embarrassing mate, I wouldn’t be proud of it.
maxy
Roar Rookie
think we are stuck with lots of 30ish year olds and then drops remarkably to 22 23 year olds not many decent 25 26 year olds,i would keep on the youth policy,hope westoff retires try and move a few players like watts motlop even rockliff ,contracts mean nothing these days,let howard try and play the westoff role,trade powell pepper and try and bring some speed and efficient ball users into the midfield backline is solid midfield great stoppage team and inside 50 team back lacks polish and and outside speed forward line the tricky one Dixon not working out and not getting any younger,but big forwards hard to get and think we need someone like him,love to see rozee in the middle,think he will be a star but like him forward also,could kick a lot of goals,seem to have heaps of back flankers,maybe get burton into the midfield....perhaps even follow hawthorn lead and consider trading Robbie gray and boak,see what we can get for them don't think they will be part of ports next premiership love loyalty and all that but want to win a premiership think we need to become a bit more ruthless like the idea of ryder and sam gray leaving lycett/hayes/ladhams farell/butters/ebert plays that role
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
I’m only pointing out that Port Adelaide dominated a league undeniably inferior to the old VFL & that their older supporters probably aren’t used to finishing mid-table. As they are now.
Fairsuckofthesav
Roar Rookie
By your own logic Port in 1900 wasn't a real club. Or if real is earnt by how many premiership you win your real club has one less than the Crows since entering the AFL.
Liam Clark
Roar Guru
Some development up forward would definitely help push Port into a contender
Powa
Roar Rookie
they have a really bad forward line, and probably the 3rd-4th best midfield in the comp, as well as a good defence, they dominated a lot of the games they lost, which were lost due to the fact no-one at port can put them through the big sticks
Powa
Roar Rookie
in that case no-ones premierships from before the afl was founded count?
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
I don't think they've done anything post season, no coaches have been moved on, no review announced, they think it's just going to happen next year. But I can't see where from, the three kids had an amazing year, how much improvement can we actually expect? Watts to come back? Who cares, Motlop has done the same as his brother did when he came to port, got fat and lazy, Rockliff has been ok, but was used poorly by Ken in his first year. Two captains is an absolute JOKE, 100+ years of tradition down the tube so we could make Ollie Wines the captain, he can barely make the team, can't kick and moves like a buffalo, but he's Ken's love child. Why drop Lycett? Why drop Dixon? Why drop Rockliff and play Ladhams in the pouring rain, Rockliff picks up 57 in the SANFL, these are a few changes made that were Kenny out smarting himself. Make no mistake, Goldstein beat us pretty much on his own and knocked us put of the finals, we had last year's premiership ruckman, in good form, playing in the 2's. That should be enough to see the coach Sacked, it was a shocking mistake. Port suck, we've been flighty under Hinkley, unreliable and I'm not sure I see that changing.
Goalsonly
Roar Rookie
Is there any sentiment that only an SA man can do this? What is the percentage of coaches that take it to the Granny? A lot of fine coaches never even got near one. The Holy Grail ain't that holy. Get a volunteer down at a club, give him something to do and he/she makes good. Some kid nails a torp on his left. Somebody stuffs something up and we all laugh about it afterwards. Ken Hinkly bleeds Teal and he's pure footy. Unlock the trinket chest and let the sunshine in.
Jack A
Guest
Interstate clubs have won 12 of 28 possible flags since 1990 (43%) - not bad considering the travel factor, home state advantage which has gifted some Melbourne clubs flags, and not forgetting that there was 11 Victorian clubs and 3 interstate clubs in 1990. Welcome to the big league!
Jack A
Guest
Why we count VFL flags as AFL flags is even more perplexing. Using your logic VFL flags before 1990 should not count towards total flags won. 43% of flags have been won by interstate teams since the offical introduction of the AFL in 1990. Considering that the GF is played in Victoria each year only makes these interstate achievement more noteworthy. WC heads the interstate list with 4 flags - welcome to the big league! You can’t have it both ways, even if most VFL like to!
Liam Clark
Roar Guru
Port have a team that should have definitely made finals. I may overrate them at times, but they are definitely a list of players that can make finals based on pure talent. However, something needs to change and for this club I believe it starts with the coach. How do you extend a coach that has brought you very little success?
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
Maxine, I really doubt you’re even reading the right book with this, let alone being on the same page. 37 Premierships in the SANFL is one thing, but it means very little now, now that they’re in the big league. Why it is even called the SANFL is perplexing in itself. Big fish in a small pond.
Bobby
Guest
Excellent article. The love Hinkley has received from some members of the media has been ridiculous, and it is due to him giving them access to the club and interviews with himself, I’ve always respected Kane Cornes media comments regarding Port Adelaide but this year his comments have been appalling, he has blamed everybody at the club but claims the head coach is doing a great job. Unfathomable. I relinquished my membership in 2017 after paying $200 for a family of 3 to see us not bother turning up for an away showdown. I have only been to 2 games in the last 2 seasons and will not be going again until Hinkley has gone. At first it was hurting me not being a member and I watched every game on tv, this year I have possibly watched only 10 games and I haven’t cared less when missing them either. When he does finally go I’ll be happy to see Koch, KT, Voss and Bass go with him!
asd
Guest
I Like what you say Chris