Next three weeks crucial for Ken Hinkley as heat rises on Port Adelaide succession plan

Succession plans are always fraught with danger, but the Power’s meek showing against the Pies will pour petrol onto a ‘Ken Out’ fire which has been raging for years, writes Simeon Thomas-Wilson.

The next three weeks in Port Adelaide’s season will either give Ken Hinkley, Josh Carr and David Koch the breathing space they desperately need or amplify the attention and questions around the Power’s succession plan even further.

While we have already had upsets this season, the Power’s next three games are ones it just should win.

Richmond at home, Essendon at Marvel Stadium – where it has an excellent record – and then St Kilda back at Adelaide Oval which should see the Power at 3-1 ahead of the Jack Ginnivan-Hinkley rematch against Hawthorn in Gather Round.

It is a perfect opportunity for the Power to do what Collingwood did to it on Saturday night at the MCG – respond in style after a season-opening horror show which prompted waves of criticism.

Ken Hinkley. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

But if the Power can’t respond from the Round 1 belting at the hands of the Pies, then exactly what Koch said Port was trying to avoid by going public with the succession plan before the season will become an issue.

“Good clubs transition smoothly and our number one priority is to have no disruption, no distraction to the football program,” Koch said at the media conference announcing the succession plan.

“Stability, I think is a key ingredient for a sporting organisation.”

When asked if the club felt that going public with the succession plan prior to the season would give everyone clarity for the 2025 campaign Koch replied; “otherwise you (the media” will be saying for the rest of the year what is going to happen (regarding Hinkley’s future)”.

Hinkley himself has joked about what he will be asked during media conference this season after fielding questions about his status at Alberton for years.

But while it may end up proving to be an over-reaction, so poor were the Power against the Pies different sort of questions have intensified for Port.

Despite their Opening Round loss to GWS, many still would have predicted the Magpies to defeat the Power at the MCG especially given Collingwood’s record against Port there.

But the Power were so poor and so comprehensively beaten that the talking point post game was around the succession plan.

The Power were belted. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

How is it going to work this year? Is the game plan Hinkley’s or Carr’s? Was it the right move going public? Is it going to distract the players?

These are all questions the Power have to cop for at least the next week.

In his weekly media conference before the Collingwood game Hinkley said he felt “really good and really excited ahead of his final season in charge of the Power.

“I hope that is what the team feels too because they are my team and I feel like they are going to be really excited about this season and the opportunities in front of us,” he said.

He and the Power will now need to convince the critics.

“The Ken Hinkley story is a fire that has been raging for some time now,” Richmond three-time premiership player Jack Riewoldt said on Fox Footy.

Within minutes of the final siren last night, the “Sack Ken” signs were back up at Alberton.

All the fallout from the Power’s loss, Ken Hinkley’s biggest defeat as coach, tonight on @[e-mail]/l6sp8cfx0A

— Corey Norris (@coreynorris9) March 16, 2025

“Why prolong it for another 12 months full well knowing that any loss over the early part of the season, not to mention a 91-point loss in round one, will add petrol to a fire which has been bubbling along for a fair period of time now.”

Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd said this was the problem with succession plans and going public with them.

“Every time they lose, already Round 1 we are talking about it – the handover,” he said on the Sunday Footy Show.

Already the sign to Alberton Oval on Port Road has had angry fans post a message, with “CYA KEN” stuck on it on Saturday night.

The Power will stick to its guns, we know Port will do that based on recent history.

But the priority of ensuring no disruption or distraction to the football program – at least externally – at Alberton is going to get tested if the Power don’t bounce back, and quick.

Originally published as Next three weeks crucial for Ken Hinkley as heat rises on Port Adelaide succession plan