Under siege Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley admits him and his side must “live in the present” temporarily in an effort to accept the truths of their 84-smashing at the hands of Geelong on Thursday night.
The club’s second-largest defeat in AFL finals history – which ironically only sits behind their infamous 119-point loss to the Cats in the 2007 Grand Final – has now left Port on the brink of their second consecutive straight sets exit from finals.
And a loss next weekend to one of Hawthorn or the Western Bulldogs could see the scrutiny around Hinkley’s tenure reach breaking point, as the head coach of 12 years continues to fight for his first ever grand final appearance.
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Despite the horrific loss, Hinkley was – as always – measured and composed facing up to the media, owning the grim reality he and the club are now in.
“We’ve got to live in the present for a bit, and then reflect on what we’ve done over the journey, and tonight was really, really disappointing,” Hinkley begun by saying at the start of his post-match press conference.
“We were lucky to be in it for the first 40 minutes to be fair, and Geelong’s done a number on us big time … It’s not going to be easy to explain the performance tonight.
“Our last performance like this (a 79-point loss to Brisbane at home in Round 15), we bounced out of it and we found a way to get back into the mode of playing a bit better football than we certainly did tonight.
“What we were tonight was so far off the mark, we all understand it, we all get it.”
The Power were crucified across dozens of facets in the game, most damningly disposing of the ball nearly nine per cent worse than the Cats.
The home side’s defence also conceded a whopping 22 marks inside 50 for the match – more than tripling their own count of seven.
Luckily, their double chance for finishing second in the home-and-away season allows them one more chance to get things right before season’s end.
“For the next 24 hours, we have to live with the facts; (and) the facts were we were beaten badly in all facets of the game – not one part, all parts,” Hinkley continued.
“You get the opportunity to get a double chance, and unfortunately we’re going to have to use it – we didn’t want that to be the case, but we’ve now got that actual reality in front of us.
Port Adelaide fans have been particularly ruthless in recent years of Hinkley’s continued role as head coach, furious of his side’s inability to make a grand final in 12 years at the helm.
As his finals record slipped to 5-8 with Thursday night’s loss, the 57-year-old acknowledged the feeling of frustration fans may feel towards him, but was adamant him and his players are doing their upmost to bring back a premiership to Alberton for the first time in two decades.
“I get that it falls back to the head coach in some ways, but the reality is – we’ve always said, this is all of us doing this; this is all of us trying to achieve something together. It’s not one individual, but there’s a figurehead and for me, I sit in that spot,” Hinkley admitted.
“I’ve been really clear all year; I work really hard to give the best results we can possibly get.
“My team of coaches and people in the footy department do everything to have the result.
Beyond the result, two other major concerns came out of the match for the football club; namely Zak Butters being subbed out at half time with a rib concern.
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“He got a whack in the ribs, and obviously he couldn’t go on; (it’s) a pretty clear indication he couldn’t go on… we’ll see what happens with scans and bits and pieces tomorrow and hope that he’s okay,” Hinkley noted.
And secondly, the form of veteran Charlie Dixon has reached breaking point for some fans, who sung out Bronx cheers for their full-forward towards the end of the match.
Dixon registered just one disposal to three-quarter time, and was selected over fellow tall forward Todd Marshall who has fully recovered from a concussion in Round 22 against Melbourne.
Dixon has kicked 23 goals from 17 games this season, while Marshall has kicked 20 goals from 18 games.
Asked on the concerns surrounding his tall forwards, Hinkley finished by explaining the non-selection of Marshall, before stating Dixon was one of many who would have hoped for a greater output against Geelong.
“We didn’t have Todd fit and firing and playing lots of football, we just didn’t have all the choices that you want in that space, but it’s a wonderful thing after the event hindsight,” said Hinkley.
“You look back and reflect and think ‘Could Todd have done a bit better?’ But let’s not just talk about Charlie, let’s talk about probably 18 of our players who we wish had played better.
“Clearly, we would much rather a better return from them (key forwards), but they’re going to survive off the way we use the ball – we didn’t give them a chance tonight.”
Jason Horne-Francis, Miles Bergman and Ollie Wines were the only notable performers for Port Adelaide on the night.
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