Power coach Ken Hinkley says there’s more improvement in his team after five-straight wins
WHY Port Adelaide could not be better placed after chalking up its fifth-straight win by being control all night against St Kilda at Adelaide Oval - and there’s more to come.
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PORT Adelaide’s premiership window is widening as it keeps winning matches without playing at its best and is confident it best football is ahead after cementing a spot in the top four.
Saturday’s win against St Kilda was neither barnstorming nor eye-catching but impressive for a distinctly different reason: there is an air about the Power this season that it just knows how to get the job done.
Coach Ken Hinkley can see a wide range of areas that can improve with a bit of tweaking and rarely has a side been better positioned when it can say that while in a five-game winning streak.
“We feel like we are building,” Hinkley said. “We clearly has got some improvement in us.
“Every time you play you want to improve and we’re still looking for some really improvement in some areas of our game so hopefully that does come.
“When you get to this stage of the year and you’re 11-4 and you’ve still got some opportunity to still grow that’s a real positive for us.”
The only negative from the win a knee injury to key defender Tom Jonas, who didn’t play the last quarter.
Hinkley expected him to miss some time but would know more when he has scans early next week.
“We don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like,” Hinkley said. “At this stage, he didn’t finish the game so he’s obviously got a significant injury that might put him our for some time. We don’t know.”
Among the highlights against the Saints were four goals from full forward Charlie Dixon, who has been consistently important for the Power this season but has struggled to kick a bag.
Hinkley said it was a welcome reward for Dixon and would do his confidence no harm.
“I think so (it was important),” Hinkley said. “To see the big fella have a quarter when he dominated a bit, clunked a few and kicked straight.
“He worked his but off, Charlie, we know that and it was just good for him to get some reward.”
Hinkley also talked up the efforts of Jack Watts, who contributed with some elegant passages.
But he did take exception to the constant zoning in on Watts, who was a No. 1 draft pick for Melbourne when first drafted.
Hinkley argued that if he was judged on his industry value when he arrived at Alberton he had provided outstanding service.
“There is this fascination with Jack,” Hinkley said. “He came to Port Adelaide for at 31 and we still treat Jack as pick No. 1
“Jack’s playing some really good footy for a bloke that we brought to our club at pick 31.
“We should let Jack breathe a little bit … give the bloke a break.
“He gives everything he’s got.
“Jack’s a great player for us to have picked up in the off-season.”
St Kilda coach Alan Richardson, who was Ken Hinkley’s right-hand man when he first began at Alberton, conceded the Power had been the better side on the night.
And his thoughts on Port Adelaide were also that it could barely be in a better position.
“We think they’re playing good footy,” Richardson said. “I think they’re building to a really good position.”