Ken Hinkley’s reputation as a great mentor of youth has him high on Carlton’s coaching wishlist

Carlton is in no rush to sign caretaker coach David Teague to the senior coaching role, despite his successful run in the past eight weeks. Are the Blues waiting for Port Adelaide’s Ken Hinkley?

Carlton wants an experienced coach, one without “training wheels” to hitch onto the phrase used by Brownlow Medallist and Blues football director Chris Judd.

Despite Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling’s assertion that Port Adelaide senior assistant — and former Brisbane senior coach — Michael Voss is the No. 1 contender at Carlton, there appears another Power mentor on the Blues’ priority list.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley keeps being linked to the vacancy at Carlton, to the point it is said the Blues recently have gone as far as his home town of Camperdown in country Victoria for “background” checks.

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Fremantle coach Ross Lyon also appears to be another experienced coach who fits Carlton’s bill … should he, like Hinkley, find reason (or be given reason) to tear up his contract with the Dockers. It is not the first time Lyon has been seen on Carlton’s radar.

Dockers head coach Ross Lyon adjusts his match ups at the three quarter time break during the round 20 AFL match against the Cats at Optus Stadium. Picture: Getty Images

And Brad Scott, the 10-year North Melbourne mentor who became the first to fall this season as the AFL coaching carousel spun again after being still last year, no longer appears in vogue. Not even at Carlton.

While North Melbourne has quickly decided on Rhyce Shaw (and drawn cynicism for its “exhausting process” to replace Scott), Carlton’s holding pattern on appointing its next senior coach only draws more speculation that the Blues thinks the coaching spill will not stop at three (North Melbourne, Carlton and St Kilda).

The longer Blues caretaker coach David Teague is kept in the “interim chair” — where he has delivered a 5-3 win-loss record and a more competitive and more enthusiastic football team — the more it seems Carlton think its can secure either Hinkley or Lyon.

Hinkley recently has had to deal with the bizarre twist of possibly not being wanted at Port Adelaide (where he has a contract to 2021), but keenly sought after by Carlton.

Ken Hinkley of the Power speaks with players during the Round 20 match against the Bombers at Marvel Stadium. Picture: AAP Image/Mark Dadswell

The very reasons the Blues would want Hinkley — particularly his record of nurturing young talent — should be the underlying premise for Port Adelaide to keep him at Alberton.

It is always good to be “wanted” by others if your current job falls into a deep hole. So Hinkley cannot lose.

However, Port Adelaide might. Who would replace Hinkley at Alberton?

Hinkley also is needing to cope — at a time when Port Adelaide needs to be focused on the task of winning all three of its remaining home-and-away games — with the risk of distraction from the gossip his name creates in the AFL coaching vacancy vacuum.

So far, there have been denials — from Hinkley and club president David Koch — of Hinkley fronting the board in mid-July to ask if his job was safe. And Hinkley is simply tiring of dealing with other claims, such as meeting with Carlton during the AFL mid-season break in June.

“Some of the stuff that gets reported … I had a text message (on Monday) that was linking me to another thing; all this stuff is complete lies,” Hinkley said on SEN1629 this week.

“And if you keep talking about it, it keeps coming up. So I have nothing more to say other than, ‘I have a really big job in the next three weeks … and I need to make sure this footy club gives itself the best chance to play finals this year’.”

Port Adelaide has been here once before in having its incumbent coach wanted by a rival AFL club. Premiership coach Mark Williams was guiding the Power in a dramatic revival from 12th in 2006 to the disastrous grand final against Geelong in 2007 when Essendon made its five-year, $5 million deal to lure him to Windy Hill to be Kevin Sheedy’s successor.

The tension between Port Adelaide — that did not want Williams distracted during its surprise premiership tilt — spilled at the All-Australian dinner in Melbourne where club president Greg Boulton challenged his Essendon counterpart Ray Horsburgh leaving no doubt on the consequences of the Bombers courting Williams.

This time, however, the public image at Alberton is very different. Hinkley does not have his club president David Koch making it clear his contract will be honoured at Alberton. Rather, there appears a Bunsen burner under Hinkley’s chair with the catchphrase that plays nicely to most Power fans: “Finals — or it is failure”.

Interim Carlton coach David Teague during the Round 20 match against the Eagles at Marvel Stadium. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith

As Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos says — and has drawn Koch’s ire on social media — Hinkley has been put “on notice” by Koch. “He’s put a flame under Ken when there does not need to be,” Roos said while praising Hinkley for advancing the Port Adelaide list.

The premiership table is the ultimate scoreboard in football. But “failure” also can be loaded with genuine progress at Alberton where far too many Port Adelaide fans wish their AFL adventure was a repeat of their SANFL story that brought a grand final appearance “every second year”. As Port Adelaide heard from all after the club’s first AFL game in March 1997 ended in a heavy loss to Collingwood at the MCG, “Welcome to the big league”.

Koch’s “heat” on Hinkley draws comparison to how Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has challenged his premiership mastermind coach Alastair Clarkson. But is this the best way to achieve success at Port Adelaide?

No wonder Carlton is so patient when the usual routine in the AFL coaching carousel is to get your man before someone else does.

Originally published as Ken Hinkley’s reputation as a great mentor of youth has him high on Carlton’s coaching wishlist