Was the record loss to the Adelaide Crows in Showdown 43 the making of Port Adelaide?
IF Port Adelaide advances in this year’s AFL final series, will it have the Crows to thank? Chief football writer Michelangelo Rucci says the record loss helped the Power to turn things around.
IT is comparable to an “act against nature” for the Port Adelaide Football Club to thank the Crows for anything. But if the Power makes something of next month’s AFL final series, Ken Hinkley might need to send a note of gratitude to West Lakes.
Adelaide’s record 84-point belting of Port Adelaide in Showdown 43 at Adelaide Oval on August 6 could have become “Black Sunday” for the Power.
At 11-8 and with three games to play, Port Adelaide could have easily collapsed to have spared Melbourne the grief of holding ninth spot.
Instead, the Power won three in a row – for the first time since the end of the 2015 season – and matched the 14-8 record, fifth placing from the 2014 AFL season.
That Showdown disaster earlier this month could have quickly broken Port Adelaide. Instead, the derby debacle has given the Power’s hierarchy increased reason that there has been significant change for the better in Hinkley’s football program at Alberton.
Most telling is how Hinkley has bravely made changes to his line-up taking on youth in big roles, most notably Dougal Howard in a key defensive role and the untried Todd Marshall as Charlie Dixon’s new partner in a forward tandem.
“It probably was good for us,” says Hinkley. “It was a really big sting – and in Adelaide you don’t get any bigger sting.
“We were terrible – and we owned that. But we weren’t that bad.
“We’ve been honest all year. We’ve had two really poor performances (losing to Essendon by 70 points in round 12 and the Showdown in round 20). And each time, we’ve responded really well.”
Power defence coach Nathan Bassett notes the best sign of meaningful change at Alberton was in the first 15 minutes of the post-Showdown clash seven days later with Collingwood at Adelaide Oval.
“It was not one for the time capsule,” Bassett said. “But in that arm wrestle, the guys game together - they hung in, they had trust ... they did not fall apart.
“After those first 15 minutes and somewhere in the second quarter, they started to get reward for their effort. They found belief,” added Bassett, who notes Port Adelaide had fallen into “a couple of poor habits” in late July in the three-game run against Melbourne, St Kilda and Adelaide.
Hinkley started the season with the external agenda linking his tenure as coach to the need to have the Power play AFL finals, regardless of his contract not expiring until October next year. He also started the year with the internal agenda being the long game based on change crafted during the summer.
“We were always going to get better,” Hinkley says. “We’ve changed a lot and we’re still working on that today. We are working to improve the team right to the end.” And that jolt from the Crows in Showdown 43 has helped the process.