AFL world up in arms over ‘rubbish’ Port Adelaide move as Tom Cochrane benched in landmark match

The AFL world has torn into Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley for a ‘rubbish’ move before Thursday night’s match even began.

The AFL world has laid into Ken Hinkley after the Port Adelaide coach benched history maker Tom Cochrane in the Power’s 12-point loss on Thursday night.

Cochrane came on in the third quarter and in doing so became the first man with Tourette’s syndrome to ever play in the AFL.

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But fans and pundits were left seething when instead of being out on Marvel Stadium for the first bounce, the 19-year-old was left warming the bench.

AFL great Jason Dunstall hit out at the move, feeling it simply isn’t fair for him to be on the bench.

“We need to bring in a rule – you should never be able to be sub in your first game. You have to actually start,” Dunstall said on Fox Footy.

“It’s rubbish.

“It’s too big an occasion to sit there – I’m not copping that.”

Ken Hinkley benched the history maker. Image: Getty/Fox Footy

It’s the second time this year Port have opted for a debutant as the sub after Christian Moraes’ first game last week.

This year the Swans also opted to start Tom Hanily and Riley Bice as the sub in their debuts this season, while Adelaide used Sid Draper and the Demons had Harvey Langford as a sub in their first AFL games in Round 1.

And AFL fans were equally displeased with Cochrane not being out in the middle to start and the fact he was not given a great deal of game time.

“On everything just remove the sub, no one wants to watch a debutant be sub and play 10 minutes,” one angry fan wrote.

“It’s time we make it a rule that a debutant can’t be the sub, it’s the worst thing in footy right now. Family comes to see them play and they sit at the back of the bench for 3 quarters,” another added.

While another said: “This is getting beyond ridiculous”

Port Adelaide were stunned by the Bombers on Thursday night. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Port Adelaide overhauled by rampaging Bombers

The scrutiny on Port Adelaide’s controversial coaching handover is set to dial up a few notches after a gritty Essendon outfit ran over the top of them in the final quarter on the way to a 12-point win at Marvel Stadium.

For the most part, the contest was a scrappy, error-riddled slugfest and the skill level on display was more befitting of the early game on Sunday rather than the bright lights of primetime football.

The inaccurate Bombers were at risk of kicking themselves out of the game for most of the night, but after trailing for the best part of three quarters, and slipping 11 points behind early in the final term, Essendon exploded into life, kicking the final four goals to win 9.18 (72) to 8.12 (60).

The hosts refused to throw the towel in. Their work rate lifted another gear, as they ran over the top of the Power who were out on their feet as their pressure nosedived when the match was up for grabs.

The Bombers ended up smashing the Power in contested possessions 122-94 and the weight of numbers in forward entries (59-44) finally overwhelmed the visitors.

- with NewsWire

Originally published as AFL world up in arms over ‘rubbish’ Port Adelaide move as Tom Cochrane benched in landmark match