Who is really coaching Port Adelaide?

Port Adelaide’s rise to the top of the AFL ladder has been nothing short of spectacular. After two brutal losses left the side staring down the barrel of another wasted year, an incredible ten wins in a row has transformed the season and marked the club as one of the two front runners for the flag.

Much praise has been lapped onto both the players, and the coach, Ken Hinkley. The winning streak has demanded calls for a contract extension for the previously condemned coach, who as the team moves closer to a top two spot will be preparing to challenge for his first premiership.

This success has come from more than just the talented group of players though. There has been a clear change in coaching approach at Port Adelaide.

The club has become ruthless. In the clubs most recent match, Tom Jonas, the captain of the club, and Ryan Burton, a long-standing first team regular have both been omitted.

Earlier in the season, another long-standing regular in Scott Lycett was pushed out for Brynn Teakle, a clearly sub-AFL standard player. Mitch Georgiadis is another example of a promising player being pushed out due to a poor run of form.

Perhaps most interesting is Darcy-Byrne Jones, who has been recast as a small pressure forward. Although all mentioned above were clearly going through a form slump at the time of omitting or position-moving, dropping long term players is distinctly not a Ken Hinkley trait.

In fact, all these players have had decidedly worse form slumps in previous years and have not paid the price; think Byrne-Jones 2022 and Jonas in patches across his career. So why have they been dropped now?

Overall, there has been a clear shift from heart to head on the selection panel. Additionally, there is also a function over personal mentality.

This season, the lineup has favored consistent structure over having the best players possible. When Charlie Dixon went out with a quad injury, it was Ollie Lorde who replaced him rather than a smaller, proven goal kicker.

While Ollie needs some work on the field, his like for like replacement to Dixon didn’t damage the forward line set up and allowed Todd Marshall and Jeremy Finlayson to continue performing like nothing had ever changed.

Ryan Burton being dropped for Josh Sinn this week is another function over personal selection.

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Essentially, nearly all omissions this season have picked weaker or equal players over better players who would not fit the role of the player that was omitted.

This is a philosophy that has been maintained in all omits so far, and once again consistent team structure with an emphasis on function over personal is also not a Hinkley trait, who has often favoured the bigger names over team suitability.

The most significant development this season has been Ken’s move from the coach’s box to the side of the pitch. Interestingly, this seems to have been brushed aside by the media, but it is the final key to the coaching situation at Port Adelaide.

When observing the game from the sidelines, one only gets a ground view of the pitch and cannot see ground wide player movement, positioning and structure. Ken Hinkley has not left the coaching box in previous years, but this season he has spent every game outside of it.

One benefit of on the field coaching is closer interaction with the players. Encouragement, criticism, and general messaging is obviously much easier on the bench then watching from afar.

Hinkley has always been excellent at these player communication skills, as well as going further by building relationships with his players. No matter the circumstances, Port have always stepped onto the field with a will to play for their coach, and this is reflected in the effort and desperation of the players on the field.

While some take this for granted, many AFL teams miss out on these qualities completely, while Hinkley has always had them in his teams. Ken looks in his habitat on the sidelines, rather than staring into the distance absent mindedly sipping his diet coke from the box, he looks alive and buzzing when in close proximity to his team.

Success has come partially from Ken’s move to the bench, but 2023 Port Adelaide are more than just a team that tries hard and relies on the skill of their motivators and key players.

The forward line is moving better than ever, the defence is holding up and the midfield division, as well as being talented is extremely well drilled. Even in previous successful years such as 2021, the forward line would occasionally get clogged, the midfield had periods of disorganisation and the backline collapsed when facing the premier key forwards.

Jason Horne-Francis celebrates a Port Adelaide win. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Moreover, the team is playing with a free-flowing purpose that has not been seen before in Hinkley’s tenure. For such a tactical and structural improvement to happen in the first season where Ken has been moved out of the box is a telling factor, making it undeniable that something beyond Hinkley has changed the coaching of Port Adelaide this season.

Ken Hinkley isn’t really the head coach of Port Adelaide. Josh Carr is.

Joining the club behind the mask of an assistant coach this season, Carr is now in the box and calling the shots at Port Adelaide. The club’s head over heart and function over personal selection focus is so unlike Ken Hinkley because it is not Ken Hinkley.

He has no hand in the selection, nor the structural and tactical improvement in the team this season. He is not even in the box to witness this change.

Josh Carr is the key changing factor in the coaching staff this season and is responsible for the coaching improvement of Port Adelaide this season. Hinkley has been relegated to a motivator role, something which he is clearly very skilled and comfortable with. It is a perfect system.

This article is not meant to be a cheap shot at Ken Hinkley. If Port Adelaide go the distance this season, he deserves his name on the cup as much as anyone else. He has had a huge role as the player’s coach this season, an occupation where he is the unrivalled best in the competition.

This article is, however, an acknowledgement that Hinkley is playing the role of an assistant coach, while Carr is the real head coach of Port Adelaide. What happens next with this situation is fascinating. Will Carr want more credit for his achievement this season?

Will Hinkley be pushed out to make room for him as the head coach? Only time will tell, but regardless of the result of this season something must give.