Footy world reserves judgment but Power coach Ken Hinkley is confident as Port Adelaide prepares to face West Coast
AS THE footy world reserves its judgment on Port Adelaide and West Coast until after today’s clash, Power coach Ken Hinkley says he has already seen enough this season to know where his team is at.
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AS THE footy world reserves its judgment on Port Adelaide and West Coast until after Saturday’s clash at Adelaide Oval, Power coach Ken Hinkley says he has already seen enough this season to know where his team is at.
What looms as an early moment of truth for both teams contending for finals is no different to any other game according to Hinkley.
“We’ve got a bit of a sample size that’s OK to look at I reckon,” Hinkley said on Friday.
“We’re six games in, we’ve played against a couple of really good sides and some sides that are emerging, so I think we’d say we’ve been pretty consistent but we’ve still got a lot of room to grow.
“We’re in a pack of teams and could be anywhere at the moment, but we’re in that pack and we’re trying to either come through the other side and are desperate not to come down any lower.
“It’s right to point out that both sides are pretty close on the ladder and it’s a significant game for us. But one of many still to come and we’d love to get a win.”
Port has been a fast-starter in its six games this year by kicking a combined 31.20 to 16.18 in first quarters.
After blowing Carlton and Brisbane away early in the past two weeks, the Power isn’t expected to have it all on its own terms against the Eagles today but Hinkley said his players would be ready.
“You prepare for every game the same way, you know you’ve got to be ferocious in what you do and what the opposition do or don’t do shouldn’t influence the way we go about it,” he said.
That’s the key for our players, that our performance looks the same regardless of who we play and where we play.
Port has made just one change with captain Travis Boak returning from a hamstring injury at the expense of Karl Amon who Hinkley said was very unlucky, but the team is in a unique position of having every player on its list fit and available.
“The captain is back and you’re going to put the captain in your team obviously,” Hinkley said.
“Unfortunately someone had to miss out and we spoke about that as a group, it’s what happens when you’re playing strong footy and you’re injury free so the conditioning and medical team have done a great job to put us in that position.
“It was really tough (decision to drop Amon) because he’s a young player with a bright future for us and not dissimilar to AJ (Aidyn Johnson) a couple of weeks earlier, it’s a good position to be in and you need good pressure for performance.”
West Coast travelled to Adelaide with three emergencies with some doubt over big-man Nathan Vardy who is managing an elbow injury.
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