David Koch speaks on Port Adelaide as questions mount about Ken Hinkley, coach succession plan

Ken Hinkley and David Koch have backed Port Adelaide’s succession plan amid calls for the handover to Josh Carr to be accelerated.

Ken Hinkley says he is still committed to seeing the season out amid calls for Port Adelaide’s succession plan to be expedited.

A third heavy loss of the season — against Geelong on Saturday — left the Power in 15th and with a poor percentage (82 per cent, ranked 14th).

With one game to go before its mid-season bye, the fallout of the Cats loss has centred on if the Power would accelerate its succession plan and give senior coach-in-waiting Josh Carr the keys for the back half of 2025.

When asked on Wednesday, if there would be a “tipping point”, Hinkley said all coaches were still committed to the handover plan.

“I did say three weeks ago the succession plan questions would come back up soon didn’t I? Rightly so, your job is to look at what is going on from the outside, my job is to be really focused and narrow on the inside,” he said.

“And our coaching group is the same, we have nothing on our mind other than Fremantle and that is all we consider.

“We start the year off with the intent of being the best Port Adelaide we can be and at the moment we have been an inconsistent Port Adelaide.

“Nothing has changed.”

Hinkley said not even more heavy losses would change his plan.

Port Adelaide has been hammered by 91 points (Collingwood), 90 points (Western Bulldogs) and 76 points (Geelong) already this year.

Port Adelaide announces its succession plan involving Ken Hinkley and Josh Carr in February.

“Can I take the optimistic view? That we don’t expect them to continue and we expect to get better at what we do,” he said.

“The challenge is that … but clearly with bad losses continued questions come and as long as you don’t get distracted, internally if you don’t get distracted by what you are trying to achieve through 2025 right to the very end of 2025 you are OK.”

Tasmania chief executive Brendon Gale has held informal conversations with Hinkley as he looks to fill key roles at the Devils, including the club’s first senior coach and footy boss.

“I’ve been really, really clear and really careful with that. My focus is solely on Port Adelaide and I understand that will be some discussions around people and names and mine might be one thrown up at some point,” Hinkley said.

“But I will never, ever get distracted from the job at hand and until I am finished at Port Adelaide my complete energy is at Port Adelaide.”

KOCH STANDS BY PORT SUCCESSION PLAN AS PRESSURE MOUNTS

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch says the Power will stick by its succession plan that will see Ken Hinkley hand the coaching reigns over to Josh Carr at season’s end, blaming injuries on the club’s recent poor performances.

Koch was defiant on Adelaide radio on Wednesday morning amid fierce pressure from leading football commentators including Bombers great Matthew Lloyd, who said the club was in a gap year while Hinkley was at the helm.

David Koch at Adelaide Oval.

Pressure is mounting on Hinkley and the Power after another heavy loss.

“We will stick to our plan and we think the decision has been sound,” Koch said on 5aa.

“But it would be useful to get a few players back and not have as many injuries.

“You hold the line and you hope for the injury count to drop … the game on Saturday night was disappointing but we basically ran out of players.”

When pressed on whether the Power should deviate from its plan and fast track Josh Carr into the senior role given the heavy losses this season, Koch doubled down on the injury toll.

“The circumstances are that we’re getting all these collision injuries which no one expected to two key forwards that have been out for most of the season,” he said.

“On the weekend (we had) three injuries and that’s why you have a sub, to cover one injury but when you get three there’s not much you can do about it.”