Port Adelaide’s painful exit from the AFL finals in an epic extra-time final with West Coast could make - and also break - the Power
PORT Adelaide took some heavy hits from its knock-out elimination final loss in extra time to West Coast - some from unexpected sources, writes Michelangelo Rucci
WHEN SA Police’s media division can make a joke about Port Adelaide’s dramatic exit from the AFL finals there might be some hope from the ashes of failure at Alberton.
Power coach Ken Hinkley appropriately notes there is something a “bit fluffy” about the notion of heartbreak in extra time of a home elimination final becoming the catalyst for a tougher, hungry and more determined player group at Port Adelaide.
Crows key forward-ruckman Josh Jenkins noted in The Advertiser last week, while explaining why Adelaide is better placed to win an AFL flag, that a team needs to be punched before it can punch.
That was some haymaker blow with the after-the-siren goal from West Coast midfielder Luke Shuey at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night when the first week of the AFL finals’ series moved from lame to intensely dramatic across three hours of intense, pressure-laden football.
No one could ever have imagined SA Police would add to the post-game smacking of the Port Adelaide Football Club. “Take care if driving in North Adelaide, the Power is out at Adelaide Oval,” said the police Twitter account. Boom, boom.
The AFL umpiring department has endorsed field umpire Chris Donlon’s call - in the last 17 seconds of extra time - to penalise Power wingman Jared Polec for his above-the-shoulders tackle on Shuey.
SA Police commissioner Grant Stevens might not be so approving of his staff entering into the domain of social media trolling.
It took three years of repetitive punching to the Power’s supposedly fragile chin - with the “choker” tag becoming a trademark from 2001 to 2003 - to build a stiff spine for a premiership at Alberton. An elimination final defeat in extra time is just one punch - and it can be a knock-out blow more so than a motivating spur to future success.
Fremantle did not win a final in 2014 after its 2013 grand final defeat. St Kilda has not won any final since losing the 2010 grand final replay. Richmond should be on the verge of a premiership dynasty to match the Tom Hafey era if it takes punches - either on the football field or in the game’s mocking fields that now include police official Twitter accounts - to win flags.
Hinkley will take some punches too. His decision to back in youth - in particular three-game forward Todd Marshall - rather than work the experience of Jackson Trengove will fill the sportstalk airwaves as much, if not more, than Donlon’s decision.
Hinkley played the long game - the one that is designed to make sure the Power is punching in big duels next season and beyond. Those who want to criticise Hinkley are the same armchair critics who repeatedly pointed to Port Adelaide’s record - with the experienced crew - of not beating top-eight sides and questioned the merit of the old guard when the Power fell to a record 84-point loss to Adelaide in Showdown 43.
Port Adelaide president David Koch, the provocative television host, told his fans after the final: “We played a young side tonight ... jury’s out whether we should have, but let me tell you, they learnt a bloody lot from tonight. Hopefully, it counts for something.”
The Power’s novices not only need to learn about the damage created by slow starts, poor goalkicking, inefficient forward plays that become intercepted by opposition defenders and how much hard work - and more punches - they still have before them.
Koch has to learn - in a statesman’s role - that he need not worry about the hindsight jury. Just as there is no replay on drawn finals, there is no retrial of list management in the AFL.
Koch needs only look at Richmond to note the power of not being distracted by rebel rousers.
The president’s big mission today is to lock in Hinkley’s long game with a contract extension at Alberton before Koch’s sparring partner at Gold Coast, Tony Cochrane, throws a punch by trying to poach Hinkley for the Suns.