AFL 2022: Port Adelaide president David Koch turns up heat on coaching staff

A disappointing season has put Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley in the gun and his angry president has made that very clear.

It hasn’t been a good year for Ken Hinkley and his players. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Port Adelaide assistant coach Nathan Bassett concedes that the Power’s coaching panel must improve after chairman David Koch issued a stark warning of the consequences of a poor finish to the season.

Koch ratcheted up the pressure on radio station FIVEaa on Monday when he said Port’s entire football program needed to “turn it around or watch out” in the last two weeks of the season, with the chairman promising to make hard decisions.

Koch’s comments came after the Power’s disappointing home loss to Richmond made it four defeats on the trot for Ken Hinkley’s side.

“It’s not just about one individual person, it’s the whole program. Turn it around or watch out,” Koch told Fiveaa on Monday.

“Every single person’s role will be assessed at the end of the year, as we do each year.”

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has demanded better. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Asked for his own assessment of how the coaching panel had performed this season, Bassett said there was a simple performance indicator available for all to see.

“The ladder assesses our performance and the ladder says that we’re not nearly as good as what we were,” Bassett said on Monday.

“So, we’ve got to get better too.”

Bassett told reporters he hadn’t heard Koch’s remarks but added it was perfectly understandable for the chairman to voice his disappointment after Port slumped to an 8-12 record, having entered the season with premiership aspirations after playing off in back-to-back preliminary finals.

“That’s pretty standard conversation,” Bassett said.

“We’re in a high-performance industry and if you don’t perform … when you lose more than you win, that’s generally not a good sign.

“We’ve got to win more – that makes sense.”

Bassett wouldn’t be drawn on what Koch’s comments could mean for Hinkley, whose team will finish with a negative win-loss record for just the second time in his 10-year tenure.

Aiding Port’s immediate cause, Bassett reported Connor Rozee (knee) and Darcy Byrne-Jones (head knock) had been cleared to play against Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

Hinkley and Bassett are both contracted for next season and the assistant coach maintained his own future hadn’t been his focus.

“I’ve been coaching for a while, I don’t have too many short-term concerns around my own job. My focus is always, ‘How can I help this place be the best place that it can be’?” he said.

“I turn up to work each day trying to help our people get better.

Port Adelaide assistant coach Nathan Bassett says the AFL is a results-driven business. Picture: Mark Brake

“If people want to criticise you and I’m not saying Kochie is, he’s just looking at the ladder and saying ‘that’s not very good’ … I get that.

“But I turn up to work each day trying to make the guys better and be the best players and people they can be for Port Adelaide.”

As forward line coach, Bassett has overseen an area that has proved troubling for the Power this season, with the midfield’s connection with the forwards and their effectiveness once the ball is in attack a recurring problem.

“It’s been a challenge with personnel and consistency,” Bassett conceded.

“Steven (Motlop) has retired, Robbie (Gray) has been a bit compromised by injury, Orazio (Fantasia) hasn’t played, Zak Butters and Connor Rozee have moved into the midfield and Charlie (Dixon) has been rucking and missed the first half of the year.

“Certainly, what we looked like in the finals over the last two years compared to what we put out on the park this year has been very different.”

Originally published as AFL 2022: Port Adelaide president David Koch turns up heat on coaching staff