AFL round 22: Power rout GWS 136-85, confirm top four finish
The Power had fallen away over the past few weeks, but after a convincing win over GWS on Sunday, the runway is now clear for them to announce that they have re-signed Ken Hinkley.
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Don’t be surprised if a new contract for Ken Hinkley is announced by Port Adelaide this week.
After the Power got its DNA and game back in its convincing win over GWS on Sunday to sew up a top four spot this week now looms as an easy week to roll out what many believe is a fait accompli – that Hinkley will sign a contract extension at Alberton.
Hinkley wants to remain as the senior coach of the Power beyond this season and key figures at the club – chairman David Koch and footy boss Chris Davies – want him to remain at Alberton.
Hinkley hinted that a new deal for him to remain at Alberton is close, saying “I couldn’t imagine our progress would take a long time”.
And Hinkley has declared that he hopes assistant coach Josh Carr will be the senior coach of the Power one day, after he decided against pursuing the vacant Richmond job.
Koch last week said it would be “silly” not to have talks completed by September so this isn’t a distraction for Port Adelaide’s with finals right on the horizon.
But the Power still have something to play for in the last stages of the home and away season.
With the Power needing to win its final two games of the season to regain a top-two spot, building on the positive momentum the dominant win over the Giants will bring with a Hinkley re-signing announcement makes a lot of sense.
After four losses in a row, and the tumultuous week post Showdown for its handling of Aliir Aliir and Lachie Jones’ head clash, the Power looked like a side with a new lease of life at Adelaide Oval on Sunday – with a barnstorming first term to blitz the Giants away.
While they only had the eight tackles for the quarter, the Power’s pressure was sky-high early on as its ball movement and swarming intensity made life extremely uncomfortable for the Giants.
It was a return to what the Power showed across its 13-game winning run this season and it shouldn’t be all that much of a surprise if Port Adelaide confirm Hinkley’s status for next year shortly.
Power 2004 premiership player Carr will be at Alberton in 2024 after he decided not to pursue the opening at Richmond.
Hinkley said it was a great result for the Power, with Carr someone who could be a senior coach one day.
“It is a great result for us as a football club for Josh to see that he is building his own future and his own coaching resume, he is going to be an outstanding coach in his own right and I think what he has done now is that he has made a decision to continue improving himself and better himself with an exciting future ahead,” he said.
“He has just moved interstate with a young family last year, he has been a really important part of what we have been able to do this year and I hope we can continue to build and 100 per cent one day Josh Carr will be a (senior) coach.”
Discussion about whether Hinkley and Carr could be involved in a succession plan reignited following the Power assistant’s decision to not pursue the Tigers job.
Hinkley said no succession plan had been agreed, but he would like to see Carr be the senior coach at Port Adelaide one day.
“To have a succession plan you have to have other things in place and as I said before we have started conversations so I would imagine there would be a piece that needs to get done before anything like that happens,” he said.
“Anyone who thinks Josh is on a promise at Port Adelaide they don’t know Josh Carr well enough, he has a commitment to us and I think he shows that is real.
“And I think that doesn’t have anything to do as to whether he will be, and I said I think he will be a senior coach one day.
“I would hope and I do hope that it will be at Port Adelaide one day.”
The Power locked in a top-four spot finish with its convincing win over the Giants.
It snapped a four-game losing streak, but Hinkley said that hadn’t told the whole story for his side.
“The last four weeks everyone talks about winning and losing too much a little bit I reckon,” he said.
“We have been building back to some pretty reasonable form.”
MATCH REPORT: POWER DOMINATE GWS TO GET BACK TO WINNING WAYS
-- Jason Phelan
Port Adelaide is back in a big way, Ken Hinkley’s men snapping a four-game losing streak with an emphatic 51-point win over Greater Western Sydney on Sunday that locked up a top-four finish and put them back in the top-two mix.
Zak Butters, Dan Houston, Ollie Wines, Jason Horne-Francis and Connor Rozee led the charge, but it was an impressive performance across the board for the resurgent Power, whose pressure was too much for the Giants to handle for the most part.
GWS trailed by 53 points early in the third quarter, but enjoyed its best period of the match with four goals for the term.
But back-to-back goals to Horne-Francis and one from Todd Marshall inside the last four minutes of the quarter snuffed out any chance of a Giant revival, the Power improving to a 15-6 record.
Marshall finished with three majors, as did Horne-Francis, Willie Rioli and Miles Bergman, in a high-powered attack that featured 11 goalkickers.
Tom Green, Lachie Whitfield and Harry Himmelberg were prominent but, thanks to the efforts of Ryan Burton, Toby Greene was unable to tear the game apart as he can in a disjointed performance from the Giants that could prove costly.
Adam Kingsley’s side was in eighth spot heading into round 22, but are outside the eight with an 11-10 record with two rounds left.
BERGMAN BOOST
Bergman returned to the line-up after missing the loss to Geelong through illness and the star winger was a key factor in the Power’s ballistic start.
The 21-year-old hadn’t kicked a goal all season, but slammed through three in a stunning first-quarter display that included 11 possessions at 81.8 per cent disposal efficiency, five score involvements and a game-high 304 metres gained.
He also helped set the tone with a bone-crunching forward 50 tackle on Himmelberg that stopped the defender in his tracks.
Butters, Houston, and Rozee were also instrumental as the switched-on Power bolted to a 27-point lead at the first break.
Jake Riccardi, who finished with four goals, gave the visitors some respite with two goals inside a minute, but the onslaught continued in the second term, with the home side leading a lopsided inside 50 count 34-13 at one stage.
The Power’s average score per game during its recent run of losses was 76 points, down from 97 points during the record run of 13 wins, but the home side had 67 points on the board by half-time to extend the lead to 41 and went to record its highest ever score against GWS.
ALIIR ALARM
Port’s back line was significantly strengthened by the returns of Aliir Aliir and Lachie Jones from their much-discussed head knock.
Aliir sent a scare through the Power camp in the second quarter when he launched into a marking contest with typical courage and athleticism.
The star defender’s legs were taken from under him in the pack and he landed heavily on his neck and shoulders.
Thankfully, he avoided injury and played out the game.
FINALS FOCUS
With two games remaining in the home-and-away season, the stakes are high for both clubs.
The Power will be looking to secure a top-two finish with wins against Fremantle in Perth next Sunday then Richmond at Adelaide Oval in round 24.
GWS takes on fellow finals aspirants Essendon in Sydney next then faces Carlton at Marvel Stadium in round 24.
POWER 7.3 10.7 16.9 21.10 (136)
GIANTS 3.0 4.2 8.5 13.7 (85)
PHELAN’S BESTPOWER: Butters, Houston, Horne-Francis, Rozee, Wines, Byrne-Jones, Burton, Bergman. GIANTS: Green, Whitfield, Himmelberg, Greene, Kelly, Riccardi, Ward, Taylor.
GOALS POWER: Bergman 3, Marshall 3, Horne-Francis 3, Rioli 3, Finlayson 2, Byrne-Jones 2, Wines, Powell-Pepper, Houston, Lord, McEntee. GIANTS: Riccardi 4, Green 2, Hogan 2, Greene, Fahey, Coniglio, Brown.
INJURIESPOWER: Nil. GIANTS: Nil.
UMPIRES: Johanson, Fleer, Rosebury, Mollison.
32,597 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Butters (Port)
2 Houston (Port)
1 Horne-Francis (Port)
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