Power coach Ken Hinkley praises his team’s pressure in 10-point win over Melbourne

POWER coach Ken Hinkley has praised his players’ pressure and willingness to find a way to impact the game in Port Adelaide’s 10-point win over Melbourne on Friday night.

Ken Hinkley during Port’s win over Melbourne on Friday night. Picture: David Mariuz (AAP).

POWER coach Ken Hinkley has praised his players’ pressure and willingness to find a way to impact the game in Port Adelaide’s 10-point win over Melbourne on Friday night.

Hinkley said his team’s pressure was “through the roof” and no more evident than in midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper laying a club record 17 tackles.

“I think he (Powell-Pepper) had 94 pressure points - that’s just off the charts,” Hinkley said.

“That will be up there with the record books too I imagine.

“Sam and Ollie (Wines) I thought he worked really well into the game and kept at it even though they got beaten around the ball and they’d admit that.”

It was Powell-Pepper’s ability to impact the game when he wasn’t getting the footy much like Robbie Gray early, Charlie Dixon late and Paddy Ryder and Justin Westhoff in the closing stages that pleased Port’s coach.

The Demons won clearances 54-38, inside 50s 68-39 and contested ball 177-158 and Hinkley conceded Melbourne’s midfield took the points. But Port won the overall battle.

“Melbourne had some dominance in some key stats - obviously entries and clearance and contested possession but we had a willingness to stay there and I thought our pressure was through the roof,” Hinkley said.

“Our backline defended amazingly well under a fair bit of pressure.

“It shows a fair bit of growth because we’ve lost a lot of games like that and big games where we’ve dominated entry and haven’t been able to put the score on the board so sometimes you’ve got to find a way take your chances and I thought tonight we found that way.”

Hinkley described Tom Jonas as one of the “great” defenders in the competition after he helped keep Jesse Hogan goalless and won 20 disposals of his own while praising the entire team for its willingness to stay “unconditional” in the contest all night.

The win advances the Power to a 9-4 record with very winnable games against Carlton, St Kilda and Fremantle to come but Hinkley isn’t getting carried away with talk of a top-four finish.

“It just gives us a chance, no one is a lock in any part of the competition, you’ve just got to keep working week-in, week-out,” he said.

But he does believe the win on the back of beating reigning premier Richmond a fortnight ago vindicates in the players’ minds their ability to win big games.

“Both teams knew the stakes and what was on show, and we’ve gone for our third big game in a row Friday, Thursday, Friday night and there are some big scalps in among that so it felt pretty pleasing for everyone.”

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