Star midfielder Ollie Wines to miss again as reeling Port Adelaide eyes SANFL options following consecutive losses
Things have gone from bad to worse for struggling Port Adelaide with coach Ken Hinkley revealing co-captain Ollie Wines will miss next week’s crucial clash with the Giants.
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Reeling Port Adelaide will be without ace midfielder Ollie Wines for next Saturday’s crunch clash against GWS, with coach Ken Hinkley revealing his co-captain’s broken thumb will sideline him for at least another week.
Far from bring back reinforcements for the season-defining match at Adelaide Oval following Saturday’s six-goal loss to Richmond which has the Power walking the finals tightrope, Hinkley said Wines, who trained in an attempt to play against the Tigers less than a week after damaging his left thumb against Brisbane, could miss another two or three matches in a significant blow to Port’s finals hopes.
Key men Brad Ebert (knee) and Ryan Burton (hamstring) will also be sidelined, prompting Hinkley to take a close look at Sunday’s SANFL clash against Glenelg as he looks to shake up his side following consecutive losses for the first time since rounds seven and eight.
“It’s a small fracture in his thumb, so it’s not a season-ender or anything like that, but Ollie will probably miss two-to-three weeks,’’ Hinkley said.
“Ollie wanted to try to push for selection but I saw his (swollen) thumb and while it’s pretty brave to try and push there’s realistic and there’s unrealistic.
“He’ll certainly be at least another week or two but it’s one we’ll have to wait and see a little bit when he starts to handle the ball again.’’
Hinkley said underperforming Power players were under pressure to hold their spots in his team after it was well beaten by Richmond — a week after being thumped by Brisbane at home by eight goals.
“If some people are struggling for form we’ll replace them with some players from the Maggies, who have been in really good form,’’ he said.
“They play on Sunday so there are some great opportunities there for some people to push their case.
“We’ll just keep working through it, working our way around what we’ve got and putting a team out there that gives us our best opportunity to win.’’
Port, whose loss to the Tigers saw it drop to 8-9 and stay in the bottom half of the ladder, was disappointed with his side’s high turnover rate and inability to win groundballs, particularly between the 50m arcs.
Richmond kicked 11.9 of its 15.11 from Power turnovers.
“Our turnovers was the most damaging part of the game and they were able to hit the scoreboard with that,’’ Hinkley said.
“We tried to defend it as much as we could but some were just too hard to defend, we know the damage that was done there.
“We worked reasonably hard, although I did think we were outworked at times, which was disappointing.
“We know we’ve got plenty of challenges still to come and plenty of things to work on but we keep at it as hard as we possibly can and still give ourselves an opportunity (to play finals).
“We just have to make sure that next week at Adelaide Oval we come out and get a win back on the board because as soon as we get a win back on the board now, we’re still alive because it’s such a close comp.’’
Defender Dan Houston finished the game on the bench after having a concussion test following a heavy tackle in the final term but Hinkley said he should be “OK’’ to face the Giants.
Hinkley put the blame on a costly 50m penalty in the loss to Richmond firmly on veteran Justin Westhoff - not controversial field umpire Ray Chamberlain.
In a decision that infuriated Power fans and cost their team a goal late in the first quarter of Saturday’s MCG clash, which Port lost by 38 points, Westhoff was penalised for punching the ball into the crowd when it appeared he was attempting to prevent an out-of-bounds on the full kick from teammate Tom Jonas.
The ball was ruled to have crossed the boundary line on the full and Chamberlain paid a 50m against Westhoff, bringing Tiger Jack Graham to within 35m of goal and he kicked truly, giving his team a handy 18-point lead at the first change.
Former Hawthorn midfielder Brad Sewell described the call to award a 50m penalty against Westhoff as “ridiculous.”
“He was trying to keep the ball in, it was over by half an inch,” Sewell said on ABC radio.
But Hinkley said he “wasn’t surprised’’ it was a 50m penalty.
“I thought it was pretty poor, and I mean poor by ’Westy’, because I think he had a couple of other options,’’ Hinkley said.
“He could have either tried to mark the ball or let the ball go and in the end I think he was disappointed that he punched the ball, probably knowing that the ball was going out of bounds.
“I wasn’t surprised it was a 50m penalty, I didn’t think it was the fairest thing going around, but I can understand why the umpire did what he did.
“Disappointed, but I can understand.’’