Inside Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley’s Showdown rollercoaster over 13 years
As Ken Hinkley prepares for his last Showdown, ex-Power coaches and a 2018 matchwinner share insights into his famous celebration, feelings on the Crows and how he built up the rivalry.
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It is one of the most famous images of Ken Hinkley’s 13-year Showdown rollercoaster.
Hinkley yelling “0 and 5” in Port Adelaide’s coaches box towards the crowd while gesturing those numbers with his hands, then doing the same as he shouts “1 and 0”.
His emotion-fuelled celebration comes as the siren sounds on the first Showdown of 2018.
The Power has lost its previous five minor-round meetings with the Crows.
A Steven Motlop goal puts Port five points ahead with 21 seconds left and once the game is over, Hinkley lets everyone know Adelaide’s winning streak is too.
“Once I saw the footage after I thought ‘that’s Kenny’,” Motlop tells The Advertiser.
“That’s what we love about him, he’s so passionate.
“We (the players) saw it up on the screen and everyone was laughing.
“But we were also happy for him because he’d copped it a little bit.
“To get the win was very special for him.”
An ex-Port coach who preferred not to be named says the five-game losing streak must have been on Hinkley’s mind after being mentioned in the press all week.
“For someone who doesn’t read much media, he’d obviously heard that a few times,” he says.
“It did build up a little bit in that game that we’d lost our last five and it was time to make a stand.
“People anywhere else in Australia don’t understand the rivalry unless they’ve been a part of it.
“You don’t know what it’s going to do to you and it took Ken over the top.”
The reaction brought chuckles from Hinkley’s coaching colleagues.
“We were all looking at each other going ‘he just did 0 and 5, then 1 and 0,” the unnamed coach says.
“We were laughing to ourselves and laughing with him.
“But that’s what everyone loves about him – he wears his heart on his sleeve and you know exactly where you stand with Ken all the time.”
Hinkley this week said: “I had a few problems with those things.”
Crows coach Matthew Nicks happened to be with him in the box that night as his senior assistant.
“I probably told you to sit down,” Nicks said.
Hinkley will oversee his 25th and final Showdown on Saturday night.
He is handing the senior coaching reins to Josh Carr at season’s end.
His first game against the Crows was a nine-point win in April 2013, when the Power fought back from 15 points down at half-time.
Next came a classic as Port overcame an eight-point deficit with about 90 seconds left.
An Angus Monfries left-foot shot that looked like trickling for a behind bounced sharply at a right angle for an incredible goal that cut the margin to two.
Then Chad Wingard coolly kicked the matchwinning major to ensure the first Showdown result by under six points.
Amazingly, the only seven Port-Crows games decided by five points or fewer have happened during the Hinkley era.
Along with the Motlop and Monfries matches, the Power’s other narrow win came in Showdown 50 in August 2021.
Adelaide has four victories by under a goal during Hinkley’s time: their clash a fortnight after Phil Walsh’s death (three points, 2015), Josh Jenkins’s did-it-hit-the-post-or-not sealer (three points, 2018), Jordan Dawson’s goal after the siren (four points, 2022) and their meeting in round 9 this year (five points).
Former Port Adelaide development coach Matthew Lokan does not hesitate when asked to name his favourite Showdown memory of Hinkley.
“That game in 2018 when Mots kicked the goal and Kenny going berserk,” Lokan says.
“Showdowns always bring out emotion in everyone – the players and the staff.”
Hinkley came into the rivalry in 2013 as Port Adelaide’s first outsider coach since club legend Fos Williams in 1950.
The Victorian had taken to the field for Fitzroy and Geelong, then was an assistant at St Kilda, the Cats and Gold Coast.
In 2023, Hinkley said of Showdowns: “It’s a genuine sporting rivalry and there’s genuine hatred. I’m not frightened to use the word hatred – it’s not a personal thing in any way.”
Those comments could have been construed as part of the theatre in the lead-up to games.
But the unnamed former Power coach is sure Hinkley despises the Crows, not unlike old-school Port Adelaide people.
“100 per cent he does,” he says.
“He didn’t grow up Port Adelaide, but he’s been there 13 years now so he’s got a lot of Port Adelaide blood running through him.
“It just builds over time and the longer you’re there, the longer you hate the opposition.”
The dislike between the clubs started in 1990 when the Crows received South Australia’s first AFL licence ahead of Port.
Tapping into the history was not something Hinkley used heavily to motivate the team.
“But if he was sensing it was a bit flat in the rooms, he might spark it up with that sort of talk,” the unnamed ex-Power coach says.
“All the prep work was done for you because of the media and everything being said.
“The 0-5 came out and we leant into that a little bit.
“Obviously it worked in that game, but it doesn’t in others.”
Motlop says the players tried to embrace the fact Showdowns have bigger build-ups and plenty of momentum swings.
“We always wanted to beat the Crows,” says the former speedster, who kicked 54 goals from 82 matches for the Power from 2018-2022.
“And Kenny’s the most competitive person you’d ever meet.
“Whether that’s playing ping pong on away trips or any type of basketball, he was himself.
“He’d build the group up to be competitive and go out there, embrace the rivalry, play on edge, and show who’s kings of the town.”
Showdown defeats sting players and coaches.
“You all know that when you lose, walking down the street, going into a servo, going into a shopping centre, going into a Woolworths, people will say stuff behind your back or to you when you’re walking past,” the anonymous ex-coach says.
“So it’s in your face all the time.
“Ken’s a pretty private person but he gets it too.”
That extreme scrutiny, particularly in the fallout, is why Hinkley will not miss them.
“As much as everyone says they’re good for the state, they’re not good for the coaches and perhaps the players,” says the 58-year-old, who has an 11-13 Showdown record.
“You’ve got to win so you don’t lose.
“When you lose in this town in a Showdown, it’s a little bit different.”
Then with a laugh he says: “You drive in the dark at night when you get in the car, you don’t drive in daylight when you lose.”
The ex-Power coach empathises with him.
“It’s definitely something you don’t miss when you’re not in them,” he says.
Dawson’s goal with no time on the clock consigned Port to one of its most memorable Showdown defeats under Hinkley.
Motlop and Lokan were on the bench, not far from Hinkley who smirked on the boundary when the siren went as the Crows recruit prepared to kick from 45m.
“Him smiling, that’s Kenny’s personality,” Lokan says.
“As much as he’s competitive and passionate, he’s a realist.
“In that situation you’ve got no control of whether the ball goes through.”
Once Dawson is awarded a free kick for high contact against Sam Mayes, Motlop decides: ‘He’s going to kick it’.
“You know when you just have that feeling?
“That’s why when I kicked my goal (in 2018) you embrace those moments and enjoy them because you can be on the other end of them pretty quick.”
Port is a $5.30 underdog on Saturday night.
The Power has an 8-10 record and is set to miss the finals for the first time since 2022.
Adelaide is 13-5, on a four-game winning streak and primed to end an eight-year September drought.
As much as Hinkley was central to the external focus this week and would love to win his last Showdown, he would not be using that as motivation, according to the anonymous coach.
“Ken won’t lean into himself at all,” he says.
“He’s all about the team, so he won’t use any of his individual hatred or gains or endings to an advantage.
“The leaders might grasp onto it and say ‘it’s Kenny’s last one, let’s have a crack’.
“They’ll definitely have a crack. They won’t die wondering.”
Lokan agrees, saying Hinkley will treat his Showdown swan song like a normal match.
“Being a Crows home game, it probably takes some of the pressure off,” he says.
“I’ve seen over the last few weeks, he’s been very calm and composed in the box.
“Hopefully the boys can have a really good win for him.”
If Port prevails, do not expect another wild celebration from its departing coach.
“I’ll take the win if we’re lucky enough to be in that position, but I’ll certainly do my best to stay out of the limelight,” Hinkley says.
“I reckon I’ll sneak off really quick.”
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