Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley praises his players’ ‘never-give-up-spirit’ in win over Sydney
PORT Adelaide has a top-eight scalp — and significant credibility as an AFL top-four contender after beating Sydney at the SCG for the second consecutive year.
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PORT Adelaide no longer has to listen to the negatives. The Power can win without All-Australian ruckman Patrick Ryder — and it finally has a top-eight scalp.
This double Easter treat comes with the Power scoring a stirring 23-point win against the AFL powerhouse that has troubled Port Adelaide most — Sydney at the SCG, the venue where it has had little success.
And this incredibly defining victory — to give the Power a 2-0 start to the new AFL premiership season — gives new credence to coach Ken Hinkley’s mantra that he has a team that never gives up.
Hinkley’s greatest joy — on a night when he out-thought Swans premiership mentor John Longmire and bravely stood by young defender Dougal Howard in a key match-up with Lance “Buddy’ Franklin — was how the Power overcome a horrible first half.
“We got a bit dirty,” Hinkley said. “We got down and got our hands on the ball.”
Part of the Power’s remarkable second-half turnaround came with Hinkley backing key forward Charlie Dixon as his preferred ruckman after starting with Justin Westhoff.
“And (midfielder) Ollie Wines turned into a beast,” said Hinkley of the Power vice-captain who won 12 clearances and worked tirelessly for his 19 contested possessions.
Sydney led the Power by just 14 points at halftime despite significant advantages in the key performance indicators of clearances (32-23), contested football (92-74), hit-outs (34-22) and, most worryingly, inside-50s (35-14).
“As bad as the contest looked in the first half — and the scoreboard was flattering — there was a willingness to hang in there,” said Hinkley of his team’s reluctance to fold under pressure.
“This is a competitive group knew they had not matched Sydney anywhere near them for inside-strength. We dodged, well not dodged, we defended a lot of entries — and our young back line did a great job to hang in (by conceding just six first-half goals).
“There were so many positives in the second half — it was outstanding.”
Port Adelaide’s second consecutive win against Sydney at the SCG — where the Power had a 4-12 record before Sunday night’s win — hands Hinkley’s team meaningful credibility to advance from the so-called “flat-track bully” that had an unflattering record against top-eight sides last season.
It also reaffirms the Hinkley mantra for a team that would “never give up”.
“We still believe in that,” Hinkley said. “You can never give up in this game. You say some stuff and it gets thrown back at you ... but more often than not we hang in there pretty well. And tonight we had to do that.”
Port Adelaide reported one injury concern with forward-midfielder Chad Wingard reporting hamstring soreness after being troubled by soft-tissue issues in the pre-season.
The Power returns to Adelaide Oval on Saturday to host Brisbane, giving new team leader Tom Rockliff his first look at his former Lions teammates as a rival. He will again work to a ruck unit without Ryder who is on the sidelines easing left Achilles tendinitis for the next month.
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