Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley remains optimistic his side can make a finals run in 2022, despite their horrific start to the season.
The Power sit 0-4 for just the second time since joining the AFL in 1997, after a goalless first half consigned them to a 32-point defeat to Melbourne on Thursday night.
Just two teams in VFL/AFL history have made finals after losing their first four games – North Melbourne in 1975 and Sydney in 2017 – but Hinkley isn’t ruling his side out of making it three.
“Why not?” Hinkley said in his post-match press conference.
“We haven’t had everything the way we want, [but] it’s a long season. I get that people are going to question my belief, but I’m strong in it.
“I think we can absolutely move forward and improve quickly.”
Hinkley pointed to the Power’s mounting injury list as a reason for the ugly start to 2022, with key forward Charlie Dixon, All Australian defender Aliir Aliir and star veteran Robbie Gray among those missing in their loss to the Demons.
Reigning Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines also missed the second half after suffering a bout of nausea during the game.
“There are some personnel reasons and there are some challenges around what we‘re trying to achieve,” Hinkley said.
“The challenges are real. But we’ve got some people trying to step up.
“I think it was our fifth or sixth debutant for the club tonight already. We can‘t quite get the continuity of people back, which then can flow into the confidence of other players. It’s too simplistic to just put it down to one or two things.
“We’re working towards making us better quickly and hanging in there. At the moment we’re hanging in there in a position we would much rather not be in.”
However, Power great and long-term advocate of Hinkley, Kane Cornes, isn’t so sure the club can turn things around.
Cornes was scathing of Hinkley’s coaching on Thursday night, saying on SEN Breakfast the Power had had ‘the worst game plan you could have’ against the Demons’ famously miserly defence.
“That’s never going to work against Melbourne,” he said of Port’s tendency to bomb the ball long to an undersized attack missing Dixon’s presence.
“The instruction has got to be ‘the messier the better.’ Get the ball on the ground and force Jake Lever, Steven May and Adam Tomlinson to go at ground level. They’re not great ground level players.
“You’d think Ken Hinkley would address that at quarter time, and they start the second quarter and do the exact same thing. That was the worrying thing for me if I’m analysing the coaching of Ken Hinkley.
“It’s not just him, it’s the players and their ability to understand instructions and execute. But it’s fallen down somewhere.”
With Power fans already clamouring for Hinkley to face the axe, Cornes believes ‘blood is in the water’ for their coach since 2013.
“There’s a sense of inevitability about it – but this is the last thing I’ll say about this, he’s earned the right, he’s been an exceptional coach for that football club to be given more than four weeks,” he said.
“Who’s going to do the job after Round 4? He’s earned the right on the back of two prelim finals in a row to turn it around.
“He’s absolutely earned that.”
(AAP Image/Kelly Barnes)
From struggling to get a game at Geelong to being a crucial cog in a red-hot Brisbane outfit, 2022 has already been a whirlwind ride for Darcy Fort.
With Lions’ number one ruckman Oscar McInerney to miss their blockbuster clash with the Cats on Friday night through suspension, the 28-year old Fort, who played just eight games at Geelong across three years between 2019 and 2021, is ready for the challenge to show his old side just what they had.
Speaking to AFL.com.au, Fort said his experience of playing in Geelong will hold him in good stead to fill McInerney’s void.
“It’s handy for me knowing how to play GMHBA Stadium and knowing how Geelong is going to play there,” he said.
“It’s a really tight ground, which makes it a really hard ground for other teams to come in and move the ball.
“We’ve got a real experienced team though. If we can keep it in the middle and keep the ball going north-south, you put yourself in good stead.”
The much-maligned Stanley has long been the Cats’ first-choice ruck, holding Fort out of the side for much of his time at GMHBA Stadium.
However, Fort remains confident he can get the better of his former rival in their first encounter as opponents.
“We’ve had some good battles at training over the years,” he said of Stanley
“He’s really athletic and uses his strengths well. I’ll have to go in there and be really physical and see how we go.
“I don’t have any animosity to Rhys, he was a big part in my development over the past few years.”
Fort has averaged 10 possessions and a goal a game in 2022, while only once in his career has he played more than the three consecutive games he’s enjoyed at the Lions.
With Melbourne star Angus Brayshaw set to be one of this season’s hottest free agents, former teammate and AFL great Jordan Lewis has urged the wingman to stick with the reigning premiers rather than test the market.
Brayshaw finished third in the 2018 Brownlow Medal, but has since played a team-first defensive role to be a crucial cog in the Dees’ all-conquering premiership team.
However, the 26-year old is weighing up a move elsewhere to become more of an attacking force, particularly as an inside midfielder.
Speaking on Fox Footy, Lewis, a teammate of Brayshaw during 2017 and 2018 after moving from Hawthorn, has warned Brayshaw that a change of clubs might not be the best thing for his career, while also potentially denying him a chance at yet more premierships.
“The grass isn’t always greener,” he said.
“Be careful what you wish for. If you’re in a successful side and you’re playing some good football in a position that you don’t necessarily think is your number one position; I would accept that any day over playing in the midfield at a side that that might not be going so well.”
“You’re playing at a good side, you’re playing in front of big crowds and you’re playing finals year on year.”
Brayshaw has responded emphatically to several trade rumours already, famously remarking that he would ‘rather eat a steaming plate of my own…’ when asked about a potential trade to West Coast back in March.
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