Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley optimistic about next season after his side’s dominant 43-point win over Fremantle
Ken Hinkley is disappointed about once again being a finals spectator, but says there is plenty to be optimistic about at Alberton after Port Adelaide comes away from its final game of 2019 with a big win and he with the full support of the club.
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Ken Hinkley knows that Sunday’s win over Fremantle has a “hollow” sense about it, but it’s also tinged with a fair bit of optimism.
In his side’s final game for 2019, a 43-point win over Fremantle, Port Adelaide has rounded out the season in 10th spot — the same as last season — with an 11-11 win-loss record. But Hinkley knows there’s a fair bit to look forward to.
“At the start of the year, we set out to play finals, we failed to do that,” Hinkley said.
“That does leave you a little bit hollow, but the position that we filled is exactly the same on the ladder … but it feels like there is a fair bit of difference.
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“It’s one that creates a lot of optimism in me and enthusiasm in the group, I reckon, to keep working and keep striving and continue to get better again.
“But it’s slightly hollow because we didn’t get where we wanted to go this year.”
Hinkley said optimistic was a good word to describe the 2019 season.
“I’m optimistic about 62 games into three first-year draft choices, six debutants, two new people in Scott Lycett and Ryan Burton to come to the club, the change of leadership,” he said.
“There’s a lot of optimism and a connection between this group and players and I’ve been really surprised with how this group’s felt even though we’re 11-11, they’ve really felt like they’ve stuck at it.
“I know we’ve had some bad moments, but we’ve had some good moments.”
In the side’s dominant 43-point win over Fremantle, Hinkley said that result meant a lot to the football club given Port’s crushing loss to North Melbourne the week prior.
“(It was a clear) response to what our performance was like last week, which was a disastrous performance by us, so we didn’t care … if we get here on Sunday afternoon and we were or weren’t in the (finals) race, what we care about is how we represent this great footy club, and if it was for one last time, that we represented it the right way and I thought tonight we did that,” Hinkley said.
He also said he ended the season with the full support of the club at large and was looking forward to work with the group for the “continuation of the journey”.
“I was always confident that as a footy club we were always going to follow through,” he said.
“David (Koch, club president), myself, Keith (Thomas, CEO), we talk regularly and the hard part about the game is the outside stuff that starts to build and it gets a bit of momentum that can create a bit of uncertainty, and we know what the game can be like … we know how tough it can be to survive, but we also know how bloody tough it is to stick and I think this footy club made some really brave decisions and I’m sure they’ll get a reward for it.”