Port Adelaide chairman David Koch backs Ken Hinkley after shock finals loss
David Koch has labelled Port Adelaide’s preliminary final performance as ‘soft’ and ‘embarrassing’, but says Ken Hinkley is still the man to take the Power to a grand final.
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Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has backed senior coach Ken Hinkley’s record, despite labelling the Power’s efforts in the preliminary final as “soft” and “embarrassing”.
Koch also said that a preliminary final isn’t the ceiling for the Power, despite a second-straight exit at that stage.
While everything was seemingly in their favour to make the grand final after falling six points short of Richmond in last year’s prelim, the Power were blown away by the Bulldogs from the very first minute on Saturday.
Speaking on his usual Monday morning slot on FIVEaa, Koch said the club was “embarrassed” by the performance.
But he backed Hinkley after irate Power fans took to social media and message boards to criticise him.
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Hinkley still has two years on his contract, but is approaching his 10th year at Alberton with three preliminary final exits to show for it so far.
When asked “is Ken Hinkley safe?” Koch said he had built a side that was the envy of many in the AFL.
“Look, he has the best win-loss record of any Port Adelaide coach,” Koch said.
“This year was the best win-loss record since 2004. We had a shocker on Saturday night, not walking away from that.
“But the foundation that Kenny has built, the team that he has built, is applauded right throughout the industry.
“And my job is to get through the emotion without making any decisions at all and look at the facts and the data.
“The facts and data is we’ve had apart from this game on Saturday night, which is devastating … don’t think people aren’t hurting about this, the emotion in the changerooms after was palpable apparently.
“But we’ve come to, from and to, and we’ve got to keep building on that.
“Overall, we are there, I’d rather be the man in the arena and hopefully experiencing the joy but with joy along the route comes disappointment, than not being in the arena.
“Two preliminaries in a row, we’re a good team, we are a good squad, we are young, we are building. There’s a lot to look forward to.
“And that’s no excuse, that’s not wallpapering what happened on Saturday night. I’m as embarrassed as anybody and we have to do better.
“My challenge is to the playing group is, with a lot of sides this could be so scarring and they fall off a cliff. We have to use it to galvanise us and show that we aren’t soft, because we played soft, we didn’t play the Port Adelaide way.
“We have to use it to galvanise us to get over this hump.”
Koch said the preliminary final wasn’t just the ceiling for this Power side.
“We’ve got to get better and I think there is a lot more natural development to go,” he said.
POWER FACES MONTHS OF BRUTAL QUESTIONS
Port Adelaide senior assistant coach Michael Voss says he would “be really surprised” if the Power got ahead of themselves prior to their preliminary final thrashing at the hands of the Western Bulldogs.
Despite seemingly having everything in their favour ahead of the match, with key Port figures saying they were as well prepared as they could be, the Power were blown away from the first minute by the Bulldogs at Adelaide Oval.
Voss said he believed the side had not gotten ahead of themselves prior to the 71-point loss.
“I would be really surprised (if they got ahead of themselves) we put those conversations on the table really early,” he said on SEN SA.
“It is one of the things that you deal with that is unique about preliminary final week, you can dream a little but at the same time you have to live in the now and get the job done and all the feeling I had coming into the game was feeling that we were ready.
“What we also have to acknowledge and we have to have a bit of humility, the Bulldogs were sensational. They have had some genuine challenges themselves to overcome.”
The Dogs led contested ball by 23 at quarter-time in what Champion Data declared an all-time record.
The midfield smashing came from the very first bounce when the Power couldn’t stop Tom Liberatore from winning the opening clearance of the match.
And the midfield struggled from there.
Melbourne legend Garry Lyon said on Monday the Power’s midfield lacked depth and some Port players were just inconsistent.
“It was so passive. I take nothing away from the Bulldogs, they exploded, but there was no response,” Lyon said on SEN.
“Know what you’re going to get. I don’t know what I’m getting from (Steven) Motlop, I don’t know what I’m getting from (Orazio) Fantasia, I don’t know what I’m going to get from (Connor) Rozee from one week to the next.
“There’s too many of them in that side at the moment. That would be something I think they’ve got to have a look at.
“Clearly their midfield is light on, and the hope would have been that Rozee and (Xavier) Duursma and (Zak) Butters could push in there … they’re going to have to try now.
“You’re going to have to make a decision on them and say, ‘we’re going to turn these boys into midfielders or if they’re not, you’re going to have to find some’.”
Voss said the club would do player exit interviews on Monday and Tuesday, before the coaches conduct a wide-ranging review of just where the Power went wrong.
“It will be a tough one to diagnose, and the reason it will be a hard one to diagnose is because the back end of our season had been extremely strong,” he said.
“Even some of the commentary about some of the teams we had played was well and truly answered in the past two games we played.
“We were playing some really quality football. I suspect to diagnose it properly we will have to take a really macro view and look at it across our losses of the year and how they happened.
“And one of those will be around the contest and ensuring that becomes more consistent when we need it to be.”
PORT FACE UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS AFTER MELTDOWN
How does that happen?
That is what Port Adelaide’s fans and the football world will be asking after the Power’s preliminary final horror show.
A grand final spot was on the line, the Power kept saying it had an ideal preparation and it was fresh off a week off.
Yet playing at home with a near full-strength list against a side that had travelled to four states in three weeks and endured a taxing semi-final, then was prevented from training on Adelaide Oval the day before the game, Port Adelaide dished up that.
A showing that was lacklustre, passive and, at times, spiritless.
The club’s leaders, captain Tom Jonas and coach Ken Hinkley, were at a loss straight after the match to determine how the side could look so flat in what finished as a 71-point hiding.
“I can’t really comment on that right now,” Jonas told News Corp.
“We’ve got a long summer ahead to dig down on that and find out why.
“It’ll be a real test of our mettle of where we want to go as a group in 2022 and beyond.”
Hinkley said the club had no excuses.
No reasons outside of its control to perform the way it did.
He said the Power had what it needed to play well, but “failed when we needed not to fail”.
“It’s probably not the perfect time for me to talk too much about what happened early (conceding the first five goals and trailing by 58 points at half-time) because when you get to this stage of the year and it’s a prelim final, there’s so many emotions going,” Hinkley said.
“What you need and what you want, and what you hope and wish for, at the end of tonight we got nowhere near what that was.
“It probably needs a bit of time to digest to think clearly through it.”
Port Adelaide’s performance in last year’s preliminary final was forgivable, gutsy even.
Playing in the major round for the first time in three years, the Power ran into a finals-hardened Richmond and toiled in a low-scoring game that could have gone either way.
It fell by six points but did not lose any admirers.
There was little of that grit on Saturday night.
All the rhetoric about being ready and better placed than last year to go further became meaningless because it was not reflected in the dire display.
Actions speak louder than words.
When it counted, Port Adelaide wilted.
“Our measuring stick all year are our first quarters and our contested footy and our hunt, and we got blown away in those three areas,” Jonas said.
“We got outworked I think and dominated in ground ball and inside 50s.”
Jonas said although there was a point in the game he knew it was probably over, “you’ve got a duty as someone wearing the Port Adelaide guernsey with that privilege to play a certain way, regardless of the scoreboard and that was our message”.
He said the Power change rooms post-game were “pretty solemn – a bit like a morgue”.
“I know everyone out there is giving their all, believe it or not,” he said.
“It may not seem like it.”
Problem was, some of the Power’s efforts smacked of a lack of concentration, desperation or willingness to do the dirty work.
You have to wonder if Port Adelaide got ahead of itself as a first grand final in 14 years beckoned.
The club’s only AFL premiership captain, Warren Tredrea, tweeted: “You only get blown off the park from the first bounce when you aren’t mentally prepared for a ruthless contest. Indictment on the players, but also a key role of the senior coach”.
Jonas conceded the visitors were hungrier.
“The Bulldogs were phenomenal, you’ve got to give credit to them, but I don’t think we gave ourselves a chance tonight – we didn’t give our best,” he said.
Knowing the stakes, the Power’s performance was the type that warranted an apology to fans.
Many of the Port Adelaide faithful had paid more than $190 for a standard ticket, only to witness their side not turn up.
“I could see the pain on the (supporters’) faces as I looked into the crowd at the end of the game,” Jonas said.
“We are so appreciative of their support every single week, rain, hail or shine, from the couch or from Adelaide Oval.
“All we can ask is that our fans stick by us – we’re not taking it lightly, that’s for sure.”
Jonas was keeping the faith in his teammates and coaches.
He said the club would have turnover but had “all the right pieces” to contend again in 2022.
Does it though?
On Saturday night’s evidence, the Power’s midfield bats nowhere near as deep as the Bulldogs or Melbourne, relying heavily on stars Ollie Wines and Travis Boak.
Willem Drew has emerged as a very good two-way on-baller and Karl Amon has made big strides after spending more time on the inside, but it gets thin after that.
When contested possession numbers go against it and Wines and Boak are not firing or need a breather, the Power struggles to turn the tide versus the very best sides.
Boak finished with 24 disposals on Saturday night, but had little influence.
Robbie Gray, more of a midfield pinch-hitter these days, also struggled to get into the game.
The superstar duo is running out of time to win a flag.
Boak may look like he can but neither he nor Gray will play forever.
They are 33, contracted until the end of next season and it is a long way back to a preliminary final, let alone a premiership.
Hinkley has two more years on his deal but needs to prove his side is not starting to resemble recent Geelong teams in being a minor-round standout and finals tease.
He has been at the helm at Alberton for nine seasons and is yet to reach a grand final.
To put that in perspective, the 54-year-old sits 43rd overall in VFL/AFL history for games coached with 202 and only three men above him (Terry Wallace, Bill Stephen, Brad Scott) have also not made a flag decider.
Saturday night seemed like Hinkley and the Power’s best chance going into the game.
In hindsight, maybe it was last season.
“The closer you get, the harder and more disappointing that loss is,” Hinkley said.
“But you’ve got to get here, you’ve got to wish you can get back here next year and you’ve got to take the chance that the hurt’s going to be bad again if you get to the same position and you lose.
“We’re going to be a club that’s going to have to keep turning up and we will keep turning up to get ourselves the next opportunity.”
SHATTERED HINKLEY COMES TO TERMS WITH LOSS
Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley says he “can’t explain how bad it feels” after the Power were smashed by the Western Bulldogs in the preliminary final.
Despite seemingly everything being in their advantage the Power were shell-shocked by the Bulldogs early on in the preliminary final at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night and Hinkley’s side could not fight back – going down by 71 points.
The Power had few injury concerns, they were sleeping in their own beds for two home finals and were facing an opponent hit with adversity – no Cody Weightman, no Keath, captain Marcus Bontempelli under an injury cloud and ruckman Stef Martin massively under done.
The Dogs had been dragged across the country – from Tasmania to Queensland to Perth and then to South Australia, only to be told they could not train on Adelaide Oval the day before the match.
“We had what we needed we had the build up we wanted and we came out and got blown off the park early by the Bulldogs,” he said.
“They put us under enormous pressure around the ball and we had to start chasing everything because it is a preliminary final … which turns the game into a bigger disaster than it was by the end of it because we aren’t just sitting there.”
PLAYER RATINGS: THE KEY MEN WHO LET DOWN POWER
Hinkley said because of the disappointment, immediately after the game wasn’t the place to dissect why the Power were just so poor against the Bulldogs.
He said him, the players and other football staff were shattered.
“It is clearly just total disappointment, you put everything you have into it. As coaches, as staff, as a whole of footy club we work so hard to get where we want to go and it gets ripped away from you, it gets ripped out of your hands,” he said.
“There is nothing more than you can say than you are totally disappointed and tonight is not the night to think of anything other than it is real and it hurts
“You put everything into something and it gets ripped away from you and it means so much to you I can’t explain how bad it feels.
“We set up to win, we don’t set up to fall short and the closer you get the harder and more disappointment you feel.”
Before Saturday night, the Power’s 56-point loss in their first preliminary final, in 2002 against Brisbane at the Gabba, was the heaviest ever loss in the penultimate final.
But the 71-loss at the hand of the Bulldogs, which Hawthorn legend Dermott Brereton described as a “demolition job” by Luke Beveridge’s side, has surpassed that.
Hinkley said he wouldn’t judge his sides 2021 campaign just yet, but did say getting to the final four was a good effort and backed his side to bounce back.
“We made it to the last four teams of the competition, it is a bloody good effort,” he said
“But when you fall short it feels like nothing feels good right now.
“The proof is in their ability to come back this year after last year.”
From declaring “we’re ready” to win the premiership, Hinkley will now have to draft his team off the canvas.
He will have to do so with some of his key players’ window closing just that little bit more.
Travis Boak and Robbie Gray are both 33, Charlie Dixon, Steven Motlop and Tom Jonas have hit 30.
They are all likely to go around again but it will be another year they have missed out on contending for a flag.
Jonas was flat when interviewed on the ground after the game.
“We will be back bigger and better next year,” he said.
The Power, who pride themselves on being a contested team, were absolutely smashed in clearances and contested possessions by the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs were +6 in clearances and when it came to contested ball, they won the key stat by a whopping 30.
The loss to Richmond in 2020 hurt the Power because it was so close, six points.
This one could be devastating because Port were just so far off the Bulldogs when it mattered.
How the ambush no one saw coming unfolded
– Matt Turner
This was an ambush.
It was supposed to be the game the Bulldogs could not win and Port Adelaide should not lose.
The Dogs had travelled to four states in three weeks, had been denied the chance to have a captain’s run training session on Adelaide Oval on Friday, captain Marcus Bontempelli was banged up and they were missing small forward firecracker Cody Weightman and Charlie Dixon stopper Alex Keath.
In contrast, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said on Friday he could not have imagined a better lead-up for his side, given it was nearly injury-free, was playing at home and had won seven matches in a row.
But any thought this was going to be a Power party, like the 43-point one-sided qualifying final victory against Geelong, was over early.
Bailey Smith booted the game’s first goal within a minute.
Fourteen minutes later, the visitors had five majors.
The Power was supposed to be hungry from last year’s six-point preliminary final heartbreak against Richmond and primed to take the next step.
Instead, they looked flat and flat-footed.
Port Adelaide’s home crowd, usually one of the loudest in the AFL, sounded about as noisy as it would during the Last Post on Anzac Day.
They were shell-shocked.
It took the Power 21 minutes to boot a goal and the margin was 7.2 to 1.1 at quarter-time.
At the main break, it was bigger than at the same stage of the Power’s infamous, record 2007 2007 grand final loss to Geelong.
That day, when it went on to lose by 119 points, it trailed by 52 at half-time.
Port Adelaide was down by 58 after two terms on Saturday night.
The Bulldogs had the class of those Geelong sides, the midfield dominance of its upcoming grand final opponent Melbourne and the hunger of a side that had been written off by most people outside the club.
Football observers listed all the reasons the Dogs could not win pre-game and thought it would be Port Adelaide by how much.
They seemed to forget Luke Beveridge’s outfit had been in the top four all season, falling out by a mere 0.5 per cent after a last-round two-point loss to the Power.
Also if anyone was going to be able to sell a narrative to his players that they could defy the odds, it was the only coach to win a premiership from outside the top four this century.
Saturday night was a total contrast to the clubs’ past three preliminary final thrillers.
Port Adelaide’s previous two were by a combined nine points – against Richmond last year and Hawthorn in 2014.
The Dogs clawed to a six-point triumph over GWS in 2016.
This was the blowout no one saw coming.
The Demons are chasing the fairytale of the Bulldogs of five years ago and their first flag in 57 years but in Melbourne’s western suburbs, they will be feeling like 2016 all over again.
That season, the Dogs’ remarkable run started in Perth, then they knocked out the three-time reigning premier, prevailed in Sydney and capped it by beating the minor premier to secure end the club’s 62-year flag drought.
The Bulldogs have spent the past month travelling from Melbourne to win in Launceston then Brisbane then Adelaide, after flying into SA from Perth, and the minor premier again awaits in a WA grand final.
Why not them?
At Alberton, there will now be plenty of soul-searching after getting close this year but again falling short of a grand final.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley had all season said to judge his side on how it finished the campaign, not what it did in the middle rounds.
Well, the football world will be scrutinising it heavily now and wondering what is next for a team that has had the Geelongs about it the past two seasons.
Like the Cats, the Power has been a minor-round maestro but a finals tease.
Hinkley also said all year the Power was ready to win the premiership.
Right now, it looks a long way from that.
Match report: The Bulldogs blitz that ended Port’s year
– Warren Partland
The Western Bulldogs have continued their stunning finals run against the odds to revive memories of their 2016 premiership heroics and charge into the grand final.
This was not supposed to happen. The Bulldogs have had to negotiate taxing road trips and their champion skipper was under an injury cloud.
In contrast, Port Adelaide could not have been better prepared for the preliminary final and were almost at full strength and loaded with confidence.
But it was the Bulldogs who put on a clinic with a sensational 71-point victory in which they reigned supreme from the opening bounce to earn a clash against Melbourne in the title decider.
BONT WATCH
There was always going to be a massive focus on Marcus Bontempelli and how would his right knee hold up after being hurt late in the win over Brisbane the previous week.
He has been rated the best player in the league this season by his peers and it was common opinion that if the Bulldogs were to win, the star act needed to be in the game.
Obviously Bont was confident in his knee given there was no protection. And not only did he start in the middle at the opening bounce, he got the first clearance.
He moved without discomfort in the first quarter. His class was on show 15 minutes into the contest when he gathered the loose ball and snapped a terrific goal.
ROAD TRIP
The Bulldogs have been on a backpacking mission around the country in the past month.
There was the trip to Launceston for the elimination, then Brisbane, then Perth and now to Adelaide for the preliminary. Weren’t they supposed to be tired?
Someone forgot to tell the players. The Bulldogs were on fire in the opening quarter to bag seven goals and lead by 31 points.
They smashed the Power at the stoppages and were constantly charging forward where the forwards showed their appreciation.
Surely there would be some weary signs in the second term. Nope, the Bulldogs added another five goals.
FORWARDS POWERLESS
The Power small forwards were electric in the big finals win over Geelong. Not so in the first half against the Bulldogs.
Steven Motlop and Orazio Fantasia had just five disposals between them, while Connor Rozee had little influence. Fantasia had a set shot after the half-time siren, but never gave it a chance and snuck in for a behind.
BULLDOGS’ DEMON
Mitch Hannan has proved a bargain buy for the Bulldogs and now he gets a chance to front his former club in the title decider.
Traded for a future third round draft pick, the unheralded Hannan bagged three goals in the first half.
While Power defender Aliir Aliir has been the recruit of the season, Hannan was arguably the recruit of the night. He was playing his 16th game for the season and had kicked two and one goals in the first two weeks of finals.
The Bulldogs had clearly done their homework on Aliir and Josh Schache made him accountable.
Aliir was not allowed to peel off and take those intercept marks which have become his trademark. The athletic defender’s skills were also shaky.
STATS DAMNING
The game was all but in the Bulldogs’ keeping early and there were some stats which advertised their dominance.
At quarter-time, the Bulldogs were plus 13 in contested possessions, plus nine in clearances and plus six in inside 50s. Two minutes before half-time, the ground ball count was 61-29 in favour of the Bulldogs.
Port’s star midfielders Ollie Wines and Travis Boak had two disposals between them in the first 17 minutes of the match, while Aliir Aliir turned over the ball to a Bulldog with his first two kicks, as the Bulldogs blitz left the Power shell-shocked.
SCOREBOARD
WESTERN BULLDOGS 7.2 12.8 14.12 17.14 (116)
PORT ADELAIDE 1.1 3.4 5.8 6.9 (45)
BEST – Bulldogs: B. Smith, Macrae, Naughton, Hunter, Hannan, Treloar, Williams, Duryea. Power: Bonner, Wines.
GOALS – Bulldogs: B. Smith 4, Hannan 3, Bontempelli, Naughton 2, Treloar, Schache, Vandermeer, Scott, R. Smith, Johannisen. Power: Dixon 2, Marshall, Houston, Wines, Bonner.
INJURIES – Bulldogs: Vandermeer (hamstring). Power: Marshall (hamstring).
UMPIRES – Rosebury, Stevic, Findlay.
VENUE – at Adelaide Oval.
Originally published as Port Adelaide chairman David Koch backs Ken Hinkley after shock finals loss
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