Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is the 2020 AFL coach of the year
The future of Ken Hinkley at Port Adelaide at the start of the season was on shaky ground, now the Power mentor is the clear coach of the year favourite.
Mark Bickley
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Ken Hinkley right now is the undisputed coach of the year.
Coming off three seasons of no major round appearances and under pressure to retain his position beyond 2020, his performance has been spectacular.
Spectacular in the sense his team has risen from 10th in 2019 to occupy top spot on the ladder right now.
The Power have not moved from the first place since landing there after round one.
I sense Hinkley would describe his performance as anything but spectacular — his authentic, deliberate style providing consistency in a year that has been anything but consistent.
From the outside looking in, I see a group of players who are enjoying everything about their football.
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The players have an appetite for the contest on game day, a no-nonsense approach to the challenges of the COVID-19 travel routine, and even when faced with the protocol breaches of Dan Houston and Pete Ladhams, they were forthright and decisive.
They refused to let the actions of a few disrupt the good work of the majority, powering on through the would be distraction to remain undefeated since the indiscretion.
Hinkley would be the first to acknowledge that AFL coaching is now, more than ever before, about the collective coaching group.
The stability in Hinkley’s support network over the past two years has stood Port Adelaide in good stead.
While Scott Thompson was a victim of COVID-19 cutbacks, the ability of the club to prioritise and keep Michael Voss, Nathan Bassett, Brett Montgomery and Jarrad Schofield at Hinkley’s side was a masterstroke.
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The Power has retained a very experienced, and arguably the best, assistant coach roster in the competition.
Clearly the environment created by that group is right.
Travis Boak, Charlie Dixon and Tom Jonas are thriving, Ollie Wines has found form, youngsters Sam Powell-Pepper and Zak Butters continue to develop and even players like Trent McKenzie and Sam Mayes, who had struggled to make an impact in previous years, have improved and are enjoying the opportunities being provided.
That same environment obviously feels safe enough for the players to be themselves and show their personality.
I know I really enjoyed seeing Hamish Hartlett pull out that drum and lead the Power song after the North Melbourne victory, so I reckon Power fans would have loved it.
But you only do those sorts of things when you feel safe and supported by the club and the coaching staff.
Of course, Port Adelaide still has a long way to go before we get too carried away.
They are still not guaranteed a top-two position and even if they do lock in that spot, a likely match-up with Richmond, Geelong or West Coast awaits.
No easy pickings.
Also, who could forget Port Adelaide’s last finals appearance in 2017 — despite finishing just one win behind grand finalists Adelaide and Richmond at the end of the minor round they bombed out in the elimination final against the Eagles.
That experience, followed by two more seasons as finals spectators, has Port Adelaide fans understandably nervous and excited about the weeks ahead.
With Power fans talking finals, it’s easy for Crows supporters to start thinking of next year as the 2020 disaster draws to a close.
Never before will an off-season be followed as closely as the one approaching Adelaide. While there is another reshape coming to the playing list, I expect a similar overhaul to the coaching ranks to accompany it.
Whoever Matthew Nicks chooses to surround himself with, he must choose well, and for the longer term. Compared with the Power’s coaching ranks, Adelaide’s have been anything but stable.
Three senior coaches in six years (four if you include Scott Camporeale’s nine-game stint as interim coach).
Don Pyke, David Teague, James Podsiadly and Camporeale all gone since the 2017 Grand Final. And if you are a backman you’ve had four different defensive coaches in the past four years.
