Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley expecting a tight contest despite favourtism in Showdown 48
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is confident with how his side looks going into Showdown 48 tomorrow night. That and more in our rolling Showdown coverage.
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Ken Hinkley’s in a good mood right now: even his players have sensed it.
And why wouldn’t he be? Footy’s back.
“(And) we’ve been on top of the ladder for 10 or 12 weeks, until (Thursday) night unfortunately,” the Port Adelaide coach said with a laugh on Friday.
What must also put him in a good mood is that his team are solid favourites to take out Showdown 48 against the Crows on Saturday night.
“We’ve been in a good spot,” Hinkley said.
“We’ve worked really hard (over the sporting shutdown) to stay connected and together with the boys and the whole football staff.
“It’s been a challenging time for everyone in the community.
“As soon as you heard the news we were coming back you certainly got some energy back for the job and wanted to get back in amongst it.”
“We’ve been training really well, I’m really confident we’ll come out and play a good game of football.”
However, he anticipated there could be some rustiness on the field given the three-month hiatus from playing games, as was evidenced in the Collingwood/Richmond draw on Thursday night.
“(That game) was challenging at times and they are two of the best teams in the competition, and we’re trying to emerge to be one of the best teams in the competition, which I’m confident we can be,” he said.
“But you understand the preparation time has been restricted, has been limited but with all those things in front of us, we’re just glad to be back out there playing and if the footy’s a little rusty and a little ugly early, I’d just be patient, it will be good and it will be exciting again.”
Hinkley was pumped about his side wearing the club’s historic prison bars guernsey against the crosstown rivals.
“If you know Port Adelaide you know the prison bar jumper is massive,” he said.
“Our supporters, who are going to be watching on the television, the ones who can’t be at the ground, I can just sense the vibe that they’ll have when they see the team run out wearing that jumper, it’s so significant to our footy club, it’s a pretty special day.”
But Hinkley expects a tight contest against the Crows, despite them being solidly beaten around the contest in their opening game back in March.
“I can guarantee the Crows will have been doing some work on their centre square stuff ... I expect a totally different approach, a more demanding approach for us to get it right to beat the Crows like they were beaten in round one,” he said.
Which is why he’s also happy to see the return of big forward Charlie Dixon and rebounding defender Riley Bonner who have both recovered from injuries that kept them out of round one.
In Saturday night’s Showdown, Hinkley will coach against his former assistant Matthew Nicks for the first time and he wished him well.
“I feel for Nicksy, what a challenge in your first year as coach,” he said.
“What I know with Nicksy, I can just sense he’ll have the club coming tighter and tighter together as they go, he’ll coach them really strongly in some fundamentals of the game I think they’ll play a really strong brand of footy.”
Stengle, second-tier players set for mini Showdown
Suspended Crow Tyson Stengle will look to push his case for an immediate return to the AFL line-up when he plays in a reserves trial match against Port Adelaide on Saturday.
The small forward, who is serving a four-game club ban from the AFL team for drink driving in April, is set to feature alongside other players who are overlooked for the Showdown.
Stengle gathered 11 disposals and kicked a goal in Adelaide’s only clash this year – a three-point loss to Sydney in Round 1.
Riley Knight (achilles) is the sole Crow unavailable for Saturday afternoon’s scratch match, which will be 16-a-side across four 20-minute quarters with no time-on.
Adelaide and Port’s reserves will not be part of a competition this season after both clubs’ withdrawal from the SANFL due to a ban on AFL-listed players featuring in state leagues.
Crows head of football Adam Kelly said Saturday’s game, which counted as one of two full contact sessions for the players this week and would not be open to the public, was important.
“We see great value in the opportunity for match simulation against other AFL teams,” Kelly said on Adelaide’s website.
“Our players worked really hard over the training suspension period and have approached the past few weeks with vigour.
“In the absence of an opportunity to play in the SANFL competition, these trials become critical in the development and preparation of our players, as well as providing the chance to be rewarded for their efforts with AFL selection.”
Adelaide is in discussions with the Suns, Brisbane and Fremantle to organise trials when the teams are on the Gold Coast in coming weeks.
Tobin Cox (quad) and Willem Drew (foot) are sidelined for Port.
SLOANE, JONAS PUMPED FOR BIG-NAME RETURNS
It may not feel like a typical Showdown week to Rory Sloane but the Adelaide captain does not expect the unusual build-up, small crowd or Port Adelaide’s choice of guernsey to have an influence on the quality of the match.
Like the rest of the AFL, the Crows and Power will have waited more than two months for their Round 2 games by the time they line up at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
As coronavirus restrictions have eased over the past few weeks and the clash draws closer, Port has confirmed it will wear its prison-bar guernsey and the clubs have announced 2240 people will be able to attend on Saturday night.
Sloane said the lead-in had “not been as normal” because fans from both clubs could not get out to absorb the rivalry.
But he still expected “sharp, contested footy (because) everyone will be keen to play”.
“Normally there’s so much hype around it, there’s a lot of activities you can do and see some players,” Sloane said.
“I’m so pumped to hear there’s going to be 2000 people coming to the stadium.
“Crowds are a great part of our game but certainly I presume both teams will be just as desperate to get this season underway again in the right way.”
Sloane said he liked Port’s traditional black-and-white jumper but “it doesn’t really matter what guernsey we play them in, it’s going to be a hot, contested game.”
He named several players who were putting their hands up to make their AFL or club debuts on Saturday night, including ex-Brisbane Lion Ben Keays, Shane McAdam, Will Hamill and Lachlan Sholl.
Only Riley Knight (achilles) and Tyson Stengle (club suspension) will be unavailable, while Tom Doedee is set to return after a year sidelined with an ACL.
Sloane said Doedee did not look like he had missed a year of footy.
“He looked really sharp on the weekend – his touch looked incredible,” he said.
At Port, Charlie Dixon and Ollie Wines were set to return and Power captain Tom Jonas said the duo was more than ready.
“He’s chomping at the bit big Chaz, he’s had a long off-season, he’s big and fit and strong and he’s been dominating at training so I’m looking forward to him translating that onto the field,” he said.
“He’s an enigma for us, he brings a heap of energy, is a man mountain with that presence so it will be great to have big Chaz out there.
“Ollie is pumped, he’s like a caged animal at the moment, he was back in Echuca in the break, bumping into fences and probably had his old boy out on the tennis court doing a bit of tackling so he’s pretty pumped and ready to go and is some good nick.”
Jonas added he believes Scott Lycett, Mitch Georgiades and Robbie Gray who have been under injury clouds will need to get through a fitness test on Thursday but he’s confident they will be available.
Port enters the game with a 1-0 record, while the Crows are 0-1.