Ken Hinkley’s wild celebration will have no bearing on Showdown 45, say captains

KEN Hinkley’s wild celebrations of Port Adelaide’s thrilling Showdown 44 triumph will have no bearing on Saturday’s derby, according to the two captains.

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KEN Hinkley’s wild celebration of Port Adelaide’s thrilling Showdown 44 triumph will have no bearing on Saturday’s derby, according to the two captains.

Power coach Hinkley admitted to asking himself “what was I thinking” after he screamed, pumped his fist and then gestured and yelled 5-0 and 1-0 with his hands in the coaches’ box following his side’s five-point Showdown win in round eight after a last-minute Steven Motlop goal.

Usually reserved, Hinkley let his emotions get the better of him after Port snapped a five-game losing streak to the Crows in spectacular fashion in what was one of the great Showdowns.

His passionate display has only added to the intrigue for this week’s return bout, with Adelaide likely to use it as motivation to turn the tide on its bitter archrival.

But rival skippers, Port’s Travis Boak and the Crows’ Taylor Walker, on Tuesday tried to downplay the incident.

“We — and Ken’s probably the same — don’t think about that sort of stuff too much,’’ Boak said.

“For us it’s about playing the type of footy we need to play. Kenny was obviously pretty excited then because we’d had a pretty rough run against Adelaide before that.

“But for us this week it’s about playing the type of footy we need to play. All the other stuff that gets talked about, that’s not really relevant for us.

“Last weekend (against the Western Bulldogs) gave us a reminder of what our best footy is and that’s contested ball and pressure.’’

Walker said he had no issue with Hinkley’s “raw emotion’’.

“As Boaky said, we were successful in the five (Showdowns) before that and for them it (winning) meant a fair bit,’’ he said.

“It (Hinkley’s reaction) doesn’t mean too much for Port and it probably doesn’t mean too much to us either.’’

At the time Hinkley explained “that’s what footy does to you’’.

“That’s the emotion of the game, that’s how much these players put in and how hard they work and we’d been struggling to get over Adelaide for a period of time,’’ he said.

“We respect them greatly with the type of team they’ve been, an outstanding side, so in such circumstances to break the 5-0 was pretty important for us but the way we did it made things bubble over.’’

While Port is well-placed in fourth spot and the Crows are fighting for their finals life in 12th, Boak said the history of Showdowns showed that form was worth little in these contests.

“We are playing some good footy but so are the Crows and Showdowns, no matter where you are on the ladder, are always tough games,’’ he said.

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