Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley hails his club’s depth, describing it as ‘significant’
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has hailed the depth of his injury-hit squad, saying the club is aggressively building a list that can win a premiership after digging deep against Gold Coast.
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PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has hailed the depth of his squad, saying the club is aggressively building a list that can win a premiership.
The Power fielded eight players with less than 10 games experience in its 38-point win against Gold Coast at Adelaide Oval on Sunday — a result that propelled it back into the top eight with a 5-4 record — and Hinkley said “we believe we’ve got some significant depth on our list this year’’.
“And we are catering for that at the moment,’’ he said, noting Port had eight first-choice players sidelined by injury against the plucky Suns.
“We would rather not have to cater for it as much as we are but I think the method that we try to play is ingrained in our players, whether they are young or old, and I thought we were able to execute that.
“I was pleased with that because we’ve seen sides earlier this year do that to us. Richmond is an example.
“They stuck at their method against us and they ended up winning. And I thought we did something similar.’’
Forwards Billy Frampton, playing his second match, and Kane Farrell (seventh) kicked three goals each while Rising Star contender Connor Rozee bagged two.
Port also was led into battle by a young skipper, with 23-year-old defender Dougal Howard getting his first chance at leading the team in the absence of injured co-captains Tom Jonas and Ollie Wines.
“Clearly it was a positive today (winning with so many kids) but we’ve just got to keep things under a level playing field right now and not get too carried away,’’ Hinkley said.
“To understand that they’ve come in and done well is significant. But I’ve thought for a while that our list is really, really developing well.
“That’s not always going to provide wins but I am really confident that we’ve got a list that is actually going in the right direction and the direction of being a good side, not just an okay side.
“I think that’s really important. We’re not going to win every game this year, we get it, I understand that as well as anyone and our team understands that.
“You admire the great sides because they set out to win the competition and we’ve got to get on that path and we’re trying to get on that path a bit more aggressively at the moment.’’
Hinkley said Howard, who was not selected in Port’s best 22 at the start of season, was awarded the captaincy as he wanted a young player to lead a young team “because they are going to come through together’’.
Former skipper Travis Boak — best afield against the Suns — stepped back into the captaincy in last week’s Showdown 46 loss to the Crows.
“We absolutely believe that Dougal is an emerging leader of our football club and as I said to them on Friday, this is a younger team so they are going to come through together, they are going to work together and they are going to get led by someone of a similar age,’’ Hinkley said.
“I thought Doug handled it really well.’’
Hinkley described Port’s win as “really strong’’.
“It was domination in the second half, 43 (inside 50) entries to nine is by anyone’s language a pretty impressive performance by a good, young group,’’ he said.
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