Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley responds to claims his team spends too much time arguing and has underachieved
PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has defended his team in the face of growing criticism after two AFL greats labelled them a bunch of “underachieving whingers”.
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PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has defended his team in the face of growing criticism after two AFL greats labelled them a bunch of “underachieving whingers”.
Paul Roos and Garry Lyon took aim at the Power on Fox Footy on Monday night after their loss to GWS on Sunday put their top four and even finals hopes at risk.
Roos said Port Adelaide was “almost the biggest underachieving footy team in the last five years” while Lyon said they were an “emotional bunch” and named Chad Wingard, Charlie Dixon and Tom Rockliff as players who “throw their arms out at umpires’ decisions and think they’re hard done by”.
Speaking on SEN radio on Tuesday morning, Hinkley said his team wasn’t shying away from the fact that its recent form had been poor but he did not think the players deserved to be labelled whingers.
“I don’t think so, it’s an amazing thing to say from Garry Lyon who’s not out on the field with the players,” Hinkley said.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt from any team that there’s disappointment within players in decisions and moments but I don’t think we’re over the top in that place.
“If we thought we were we’d be trying to do something about that.
“I try to stay aware of most things but I certainly shut off from a lot of the commentary.
“It’s an easy spot to sit and make those sort of calls, we’re not hiding away from the fact that we wish we were doing better.
“In my first five years we’ve made finals a number of times and made a prelim, we haven’t been able to complete the task or been as good as the best teams in the competition in any of those years and we’ve had a couple of disappointing seasons.
“That’s an opinion of Paul’s and one which I respect but which I don’t take too much notice of.”
Hinkley confirmed Port Adelaide asked the AFL for an explanation in the wake of Chad Wingard’s final quarter set shot being touched by Phil Davis who appeared to be closer than the legal distance away from him at the time.
“We certainly required about what the distances are because my understanding was the man on the mark has a 10m side to him each way where he has to have clearance,” he said.
“The explanation back from the umpiring department was there was bit in that whole incident they would review themselves”
Despite losing their past two games, the coach said Port remained in a “reasonable position” with Western Bulldogs, Adelaide, West Coast, Collingwood and Essendon to come on the run home.
“I think every team feels like they’ve got a hard run in, it’s that competition,” Hinkley said.
“We went to Freo and lost, we saw Sydney lose to the Suns, Geelong come from 29 points down and win a thriller, there is so much still to be played out with five rounds to go.
“For the teams from three to 13th have a lot going on and at some moments I’m sure we’re all feeling a little nervous.
“We’ve positioned ourselves over the course of the season that we’re right in the battle for top four and that’s our challenge but right now we also sit in the battle for the top eight so you’ve got to keep the focus on what you need to do.”
Hinkley said Port had not completely ruled out ruckman Paddy Ryder from this week’s game in Ballarat but said it was more likely he and Tom Jonas would be fit to return for the Showdown a week later.
He admitted Port’s biggest concern at the moment was its inability to score.
“We went from last year being the second highest scoring team to way down on the ladder so it’s a significant concern and one that we’re working hard to try to solve quickly,” Hinkley said.
“The game against Fremantle we were well and truly off altogether and didn’t have any fluency with the ball, then this week we played a quality opposition and it was a tough game and we blew some chances.
“We still had 58 entries in the game, we had plenty of opportunities to score, it’s our ability to complete that last part of the chain — to hit the scoreboard with our shots.
“It’s probably typical of a team that is just a little bit off at the moment.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au
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