Malcolm Blight: How Ken Hinkley must respond to avoid unwanted finals record
Malcolm Blight knows a thing or two about winning a final under pressure, and he tells SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON the moves Ken Hinkley must make to right the Power’s listing ship.
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Dual premiership coach Malcolm Blight says Ken Hinkley must make changes for Port Adelaide’s cutthroat semi-final against Hawthorn to “freshen up the joint” ahead of the huge clash.
And the Australian Football Hall of Fame legend says while the talk might be around that it is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, games of Hinkley’s coaching tenure – it is nothing that the Power senior coach would not be used to.
After being blown away by Geelong in the qualifying final by 84-points, despite it being at Adelaide Oval and the Cats missing star Tom Stewart, the Power will be hoping to avoid a straight sets exit from finals for the second year in a row.
The red-hot Hawks come to town on Friday night, with the semi final to be the 273rd time Hinkley has coached the Power in the AFL.
It will equal the club’s record, held by 2004 premiership coach Mark Williams.
But whether Hinkley will have the opportunity to add to that tally depends on how the Power fares on Friday night.
Blight said selection was the first place Hinkley should start to right the ship from Thursday’s massive loss to Geelong, and he also had to be more flexible on the day in the coaches box – “whether it is a midfield change, a forward line change or a backline change”.
“Just do something to freshen the joint up so it looks a bit different.”
He said he would like to see some positional changes made by the Power.
Veteran key forward Charlie Dixon had just the three touches against the Cats, and received Bronx cheers from the Power crowd as a result of his struggles.
Blight said it wouldn’t be as simple as just bringing Todd Marshall back into the side after recovering from a concussion.
“Todd Marshall hasn’t played for a while so maybe you start Sweet at full forward and Charlie in the ruck, just get him going early,” he said.
“You might put (Connor) Rozee at halfback, which everyone is talking about and he didn’t have a great game so you might switch that around and try something else in the middle.
“Is it time for (Travis) Boak to go back into the middle after being on the wing and change it up with one of the other boys.
“Just do something.”
After the latest finals loss, the Power have lost four consecutive finals – with three of them at Adelaide Oval – which has again heaped pressure on Hinkley.
He is contracted for next season but a straight sets exit could result in the Power board making a move.
When the pressure looked to have reach fever pitch from the fans earlier this year, when Hinkley was booed in the heavy loss to Brisbane at Adelaide Oval in Round 15, he said was brought up to be a fighter.
Three-time premiership player Jimmy Bartel said a win over the Hawks on Friday night would be one of the best wins of Hinkley’s career.
“If he pulls out a win against a rampaging Hawks it will be the best ever win of his coaching tenure,” he said on Footy Furnace.
“They were lucky that it was only 84-points … they got obliterated in every aspect of the game.”
At the end of 2022 Hinkley turned down an offer of a long-term contract at Essendon before the Bombers appointed Brad Scott to remain at the Power.
Coming into the 2023 season out of contract at the end of the year, he was able to guide the Power to 13-straight wins and a new contract prior to the straight-sets loss in finals.
Blight said the Power could take heart from the fact all 11 teams who have lost a qualifying final by 50 or more points since 2000 have won their semi-final the next week.
“Generally speaking the higher ranked teams win in the last 20 years,” Blight said.
“As a player (at North Melbourne) I went through that, it was long ago but Hawthorn flogged us in a final and we came back and beat them in the grand final.
“When I was coaching Geelong, Essendon beat us by 12 goals, we beat them by 12 goals in the following final.
“And with Adelaide in 98, Melbourne beat us eight goals comfortably and we went up to Sydney and they started as odds-on favourites and we beat them.
“History is littered with it … that the higher ranked team who loses learns more because you have do something to change, and that is the trick it has to change.”
Blight said Hinkley would be used to the pressure.
“I think if you ask Ken that has been on since day one since he walked into the joint,” he said.
“And quite frankly if you asked Luke Beveridge the same thing, and quite frankly Chris Scott for 10 years was asked the same question.
“It is just one of those questions that get asked when you lose finals.
“Chris struggled in finals for a bit … you know how hard it is to get top four?
“The only way you can do it is to win, seriously that is the only way you can win.”
Blight said
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