Port Adelaide’s need to lock in Ken Hinkley as AFL coach goes far beyond thwarting Gold Coast play

PORT Adelaide must re-contract coach Ken Hinkley for its long-term planning rather than to score points in long-running battle with Gold Coast.

Port Adelaide players walk off the Adelaide Oval after the elimination finals loss to West Coast.

KEN Hinkley is expected to gain the backing of the Port Adelaide board with a contract extension to 2020 to underpin the Power’s long-term planning - rather than as a win in the point-scoring game with Gold Coast.

Hinkley is on contract to coach the Power next season - his sixth since leaving Gold Coast as an assistant - but remains repeatedly identified as an ideal candidate for the Suns.

This perception was reinforced on Saturday night when Gold Coast chief executive Mark Evans was at Adelaide Oval to watch the Power’s dramatic fall from the AFL finals series by a two-point loss to West Coast in extra time.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley at a Power training session at Adelaide Oval.

Evans, a member of the four-man search party for the Suns’ new coach, told The Advertiser he was following the Eagles’ path in September to be on hand for Brownlow Medallist Sam Mitchell’s last AFL game.

He and Mitchell were part of the premiership empire at Hawthorn where Evans was the Hawks’ football chief before moving to the AFL and this year to Gold Coast.

Hinkley met the Power’s demand to deliver his team to the AFL top-eight finals after Port Adelaide failed to play in the major round in 2015-16. He described the Power’s rebound this season - to a 14-8 count in the home-and-away series - as “significant improvement”.

Koch at the weekend appeared to endorse Hinkley’s long-term tenure at Alberton by saying he will change players rather than the coach to achieve an AFL flag.

“We want players who want to win a premiership,” Koch said. “To do that, they’ve got to show commitment to Ken.

“If they’re not prepared, if they’re just playing for us because they love to play AFL, they’re not players we want ... and we’ll trade them.”

Hinkley’s move to advancing the Power’s younger players - in particular three-game key forward Tood Marshall rather than free-agent utility Jackson Trengove in the past month - will spark much debate, particularly on his selection for the knock-out final against the Eagles.

While Hinkley dismissed any questions on overlooking Trengove, saying no team should have its fortunes decided on one player, club president David Koch carried the debate on selection to the fans.

“We played a young side ... jury’s out whether we should have,” Koch said in a post-game supporters’ function at Adelaide Oval.

“But let me tell you, they learnt a bloody lot from tonight. Hopefully, it counts for something (because) we are really hurting.”

Koch already has lost one battle with Gold Coast this year when the Suns won AFL endorsement to wear a red jumper in the historic match in Shanghai, China in May. Gold Coast chairman Tony Cochrane is understood to further antagonise the Power - or Koch in particular - by having Hinkley emerge as a candidate to coach the Suns.

The AFL umpiring department on Sunday dismissed any debate on umpire Chris Donlon’s call to punish Port Adelaide wingman Jared Polec for a high tackle on West Coast midfielder Luke Shuey in the last 17 seconds of the 10 minutes of extra time.

The AFL has rejected any question of Shuey “milking” the penalty against Polec by dropping his knees or throwing back his shoulders - a concept the league stated at the start of the season would not be rewarded with free kicks.

Shuey, who kicked the winning goal from 45 metres after the siren, also is dismissive of the debate on his free kick.

“It’s irrelevant to us,” Shuey said on Channel 9. “We’re worried about moving on to (the semi-final against) GWS this week.”

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