Mark Robinson: Ken Hinkley’s loyalty to Port Adelaide looks like it will end without reward

There’s a bad vibe at Port – and that vibe might soon turn into a virus, writes Mark Robinson. And, at that point, the club’s search must go beyond who’s already there.

Ken Hinkley’s loyalty to Port Adelaide looks like it will end without reward.

At the end of the 2022 season, when the Power missed the finals, Hinkley had a season to run on his contract.

Port didn’t want to sack him, but nor did they want to recommit long-term to him either.

Enter Essendon, dangling a sizeable carrot.

The Bombers had sacked Ben Rutten and in a whirlwind coaching search, the Bombers – depending on who you believe – chased Hinkley, Damien Hardwick, Ross Lyon, made an awkward pitch to James Hird to join the coaching process, and in a desperate 11th hour threw the kitchen sink at Alastair Clarkson.

In the end, they secured Brad Scott.

To borrow a Hinkley phrase when he was first appointed at Port Adelaide in 2012, Scott wasn’t the last man standing, he was “the right man standing’’.

And 12 seasons later, Hinkley looks to be a forlorn man standing.

Ken Hinkley walks off Adelaide Oval on Saturday with Josh Carr. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

History records that Hinkley rejected Essendon’s overtures. Wise people say Hinkley was asked to consider a move home to Victoria and that a four-deal with the Bombers awaited him. At the time, Port Adelaide chairman David Koch dismissed speculation linking Hinkley to the Bombers.

“Tell ‘em they’re dreaming,” Koch said.

“And why would Ken go to a club like that, in such turmoil?”

Koch was right, the Bombers were in utter turmoil. Chairman David Barham had up-ended the club, CEOs were there one day and gone the next, and the Clarkson approach was made public before Rutten was sacked. It was amateur hour.

Hinkley stayed for the 2023 season – aware of the uncertainty of getting another contract there – because of his loyalty to the players and his commitment to his contract.

He is not a cut-and-run man. Nor is he a poker player. He didn’t hold the Essendon card and try to leverage a longer deal at Port. No, he got on with doing his job.

He coached for much of the 2023 season without the contract extension, and eventually agreed to another two years on the eve of what would be a another dastardly finals exit.

This year, Hinkley won four of the first five matches, but has won only four of the next nine – including flip-of the coin wins against Geelong (six points) and Hawthorn (one point).

When Port annihilated Essendon in round 5, there was zero speculation about Hinkley’s future and the Bombers’ link eight months earlier was referenced as a sliding-doors moment, and that Hinkley had chosen the right door anyhow.

Now, the Bombers are in third spot and have depth and a committed list, while Port, despite its top-end talent, has depth and spirit issues, and are in the midst of a three-week slump after losing to three of last year’s preliminary finalists.

Hinkley after the final-minute win over Hawthorn earlier this year. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos

Footy has a tendency to circle on itself. The club in turmoil is Port Adelaide, on the field at least, and the man with most to lose is Hinkley

There’s bad vibes at Port, despite them being 8-6 and in eighth position on the ladder.

The booing of Hinkley by Port fans was a hideous and an unbecoming reaction to the Brisbane loss. They want change.

In a hotbed footy town like Adelaide, Hinkley will be character assassinated by every Tom, Dick and Harry on local radio, and members will inundate the club with furious protest.

The media is lining up, too. Kane Cornes is wavering. Even Leigh Matthews questioned Hinkley’s comments after the game, adding: ‘Is it time for a new voice in the senior coaching role? I think that’s a serious conversation that will be had and from that I think if the club hasn’t got faith in you, complete faith, that’s when it’s time for you to finish your tenure.”

Popular opinion has current assistant Josh Carr as Port’s next coach.

But isn’t he pulling the strings on game day as Hinkley patrols the dug out? Isn’t Carr’s ideology failing as well?

When Hinkley departs, the search for his replacement must go beyond the current coaching box.

Already, Hinkley is being spoken of as a sacked coach. He’d hate that, because after 12 years in the caper, Hinkley knows that a win, and then another, can change the direction of a season.

His next three matches are St Kilda (away), Western Bulldogs (home) and Gold Coast (away). Lose all three and the “serious conversation’’ will be had.

The vibe would then be a virus which Hinkley cannot survive.