AFL 2022: Port star Ollie Wines to stay under observation after being discharged from hospital for heart issue
Released from hospital on Friday night after his heart irregularity resolved itself, Ollie Wines availability to face Carlton next weekend will be determined by how he progresses in coming days.
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Port Adelaide star Ollie Wines will remain under observation after being discharged from hospital a day after experiencing heart palpitations.
Wines felt unwell during Thursday night’s 32-point home loss to Melbourne and was substituted off at half-time before spending the night in hospital.
The Brownlow Medallist was released on Friday evening after his heart irregularity resolved itself.
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Wines may play next week against Carlton and his availability will be determined by how he progresses in coming days.
The 27-year-old has not missed a match since Round 2, 2020.
Port Adelaide enters the match versus the Blues desperate for a victory, having started the campaign 0-4.
Heart concern for Brownlow medallist
- Jon Ralph
Port Adelaide will conduct further tests on Ollie Wines after he suffered heart palpitations in the crushing loss to reigning premiers Melbourne on Thursday night.
The Power took Wines to hospital for tests after publicly diagnosing him with nausea and dizziness in a first half in which he only played 27 minutes.
But Wines was also suffering from heart palpitations which will need further examination to find the underlying cause.
The Power believe ruckman Scott Lycett is a good chance to take on Carlton in nine days time despite a shoulder issue that saw him off the ground in the second half.
Key defender Trent McKenzie should be available in coming weeks after pulling out late with knee soreness but at this stage is no certainty to take on the Blues.
All Australian ruckman Aliir Aliir is a good chance to play after recovering quickly from a syndesmosis tear suffered in round 1.
Power coach Ken Hinkley believes Port Adelaide can still rebound from 0-4 to play finals just as Sydney did after they famously lost their first six games.
STRUGGLING POWER DEALT MASSIVE DIXON BLOW
Matt Turner
Port Adelaide spearhead Charlie Dixon is expected to miss another month of training after having a setback in his recovery from ankle surgery.
Ten weeks on from his initial procedure, Dixon had a clean-out on Wednesday on a troublesome scar tissue that had built up and likely caused early bone bruising.
The 31-year-old, who was yet to play this season, had been close to making a comeback until reporting soreness on the inside of his ankle after a training incident last week.
Power coach Ken Hinkley said on Wednesday – before the surgery was announced – that the outlook on Dixon had become foggy.
“It’s not looking great for a little while,” Hinkley said.
“He’s probably going to miss four to six weeks.”
Dixon has been sidelined since tearing ligaments in his left ankle when he landed awkwardly in a marking contest in January.
The Power has badly missed its three-time leading goalkicker during its 0-3 start.
It had been hopeful after his first surgery that he might be available for Round 1.
The club described the latest procedure as minor.
Before this season, Dixon had not missed a game since Round 1, 2020.
He kicked 48 goals from 24 matches last year and finished ninth in the club’s best-and-fairest award.
‘We can’t hide’: Hinkley responds to fan frustration
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he understands supporter frustration and insists the team is sticking together as it tries to rebound from a 0-3 start to the season.
Pressure on Hinkley increased after the Power’s four-point Showdown defeat on Friday night and the winless opening had led some fans to lose faith in the 10-year mentor.
Hinkley, who is contracted until the end of 2023, says the criticism does not hurt or surprise him.
In a letter to members on Tuesday night, Port Adelaide chief executive Matthew Richardson backed Hinkley and the players to turn things around.
“I’m the least surprised person at Port Adelaide by the criticism because I’ve been in footy forever,” Hinkley said ahead of Thursday night’s home clash with Melbourne.
“I can’t tell people how to feel, I can share their frustration.
“We’re going to work as hard as we can to ease the frustration for them and for me, and for the players.
“The support from within is what we expect.
“It’s a really, really connected football club inside and that’s just what it has to be.
“The boys believe and we believe in each other, and we’ll stick together.
“We can’t hide from the fact results haven’t been what we’ve wanted but there’s no way to get out of it just by fracturing.
“We’re just not going to do that and you can just see that.”
Hinkley said he had conversations with Richardson and the board all the time and they were totally aligned on the club’s expectations and where it was placed.
“Richo was obviously just assuring people that we review everything closely and we don’t miss,” he said.
Hinkley, whose AFL journey started as a player at Fitzroy in 1987, said living the highs and lows of the game meant he knew tough times disappeared quickly if things turned around.
The Power will make one change to face the reigning premier Demons, bringing key defender Tom Clurey back to replace the injured Sam Skinner (ankle).
Hinkley said the six-day turnaround between games had helped his side from dwelling on the Showdown loss.
“In society you’ve all got to turn up and work, you don’t have the best days at work and we’ve had a rough patch,” he said.
“Our responsibility is to work hard and turn these results around as quickly as we possibly can.”
Veteran Robbie Gray is exiting Covid protocols but is another week away.
Wingman Kane Farrell will make his return via the SANFL after a nine-month absence with an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his right knee.
A week after being dropped, Xavier Duursma, will sit out the Magpies’ game due to soreness.
Hinkley said there was some risk in selecting Clurey but the side was short on key defenders.
KEEPING FAITH: PORT BOSS BACKS UNDER-FIRE HINKLEY
Port Adelaide chief executive Matthew Richardson says the club is backing Ken Hinkley, his fellow coaches and the players to turn things around after a 0-3 start to the season.
Pressure is mounting on Hinkley, whose side has slumped from back-to-back preliminary finals to consecutive defeats to two of last year’s bottom five.
Richardson said the Power, which 14 months ago released a strategic plan to win three premierships by the end of 2025, was not performing to expectations.
But he said good clubs remained “calm, strong and united, and back in their people to do their jobs”.
Hinkley is in his 10th season as senior coach and is contracted until the end of 2023.
“There is no hiding from the fact we haven’t started the season as we would have liked,” Richardson said in an address to members posted on the Power’s website.
“Football doesn’t always go to plan and clubs get challenged.
“In these moments, how you respond is critical.
“We’ll back Ken, the coaches, and the players, and provide them with the support they need.
“We have enormous faith and confidence in this group, and in their ability to get back to playing the football we know they’re capable of.”
Port Adelaide was gallant in an 11-point loss to Brisbane at the Gabba in Round 1, when the visitors were struck down by five injuries.
But the Power was woeful the next game, going down to Hawthorn at home by 64 points.
Adelaide kicked a goal after the siren to inflict a four-point Showdown defeat last week.
Richardson said the team played better against the Crows but did not execute well enough in key moments.
“Sometimes football teaches you lessons in the harshest way and it certainly did that on Friday night,” he said.
“Our task as a club and the task of our football group is to turn it around as quickly as possible.”
Richardson said hosting reigning premier Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night would be a massive game.
“As challenging as our current situation might feel, our club has been challenged many times before,” he said.
“As we have always done, we’ll stick together, and work our way through this moment – and be better for it.”
Richardson said the club realised action, rather than words, was needed from here.
“As a club, we embrace expectation and will keep pushing forward with utmost confidence in our people and belief in our goal,” he said.
‘Not quite right’: Port’s issues called out
—Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley says “there’s something not quite right” at Port Adelaide and has questioned whether the team is “really believing in itself at the moment”.
The Power are now 0-3 for the first time since 2011 following the post-siren loss to Adelaide in the Showdown on Friday night.
The reigning premiers Melbourne are next up at Adelaide Oval, with the Power seeking to avoid a 0-4 start for the first time since 2008.
Buckley, who won a SANFL premiership with Port during his playing days, said there was something up with the Power.
“There’s something not quite right at Port and it’s always really easy from the outside-in to go to the top,” Buckley told SEN Breakfast
“You lose a senior assistant (Michael Voss) and what impact does that have on coaching groups?
“The most concerning thing I saw was in the last quarter, Port Adelaide were up by three or four goals, in the last quarter I saw Port Adelaide players, experienced players – (Travis) Boak, (Ollie) Wines and a couple of others – launching from the middle of the ground, long kicks to 45 metres out from goal.
“That’s not a great offensive strategy at any time.”
Buckley said this would get pinned on senior coach Ken Hinkley, which he didn’t necessarily agree with.
“Charlie Dixon’s not there, so I don’t know whether they think that they’re going to get that sort of contest, but it just looked like a team that weren’t really clear on what they were trying to achieve, and you usually see that with a Port Adelaide side, and you’ve seen consistently it over the years with Ken Hinkley,” he said.
“I don’t know whether you can pin it on him, but it will get pinned on him.”
The winless start is increasing the pressure from sections of the Port fanbase towards Hinkley, who has guided the Power to consecutive preliminary final appearances.
Hinkley, in his 10th season, is still contracted to the end of 2023 and Buckley said he believed he should dig in – but did concede a lack of a premiership could impact this to an extent.
“When I was in this situation last year I reflected on a Kevin Sheedy and Alastair Clarkson.
“In their tenures they would have moments and they did have moments, where it was a fork in the road the opportunity for them and the footy club,” he said.
“But they dug in, they weathered the storm and they got through.
“I understand (that they had premierships) but it is not about buying time it is about getting through those inevitable times when the team is not performing.
“If you are a proven product you get that luxury, that is a very good point but I still believe if I really want to dig in I could but I knew in my heart that it was ready to move.”
Buckley said how the Power respond to this 0-3 start would be one of the more interesting storylines to look out for in the AFL.
“I’m not seeing a Port Adelaide side that are really believing in itself at the moment, Ken cops all the pressure but they still have time, he still has time and they have time.
“History is meant to be broken, how they go from here on in it is going to be riveting viewing.”
FOUR HUGE ISSUES PORT ADELAIDE CAN’T IGNORE
Over the off-season optimistic and confident Port Adelaide supporters were using history to help bolster their cases for why the Power could taste ultimate success in 2022.
The last time Port lost two preliminary finals in a row, 2002 and 2003, the Power went and claimed their first and only AFL premiership in 2004.
But in 2022 so far history is repeating in a horror way for the Power, who are a world away from the premiership contenders they thought they would be this year.
Now 0-3 for the first time since 2011 after Jordan Dawson’s post-siren goal in the Showdown on Friday night, the reigning premiers Melbourne are next up for Ken Hinkley’s side at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
Lose that and the Power will be 0-4.
The last time they were in that position was in 2008, when the Power lost four straight following the 119-point drubbing in the grand final by Geelong – eventually finishing 13th.
It was similar last year when the Power ended their 2021 season on a big low, with the Western Bulldogs handing out a 71-point hiding in the preliminary final at Adelaide Oval.
Just six teams have made finals from a 0-3 start, while Sydney recovered from 0-6 in 2017 to end up at the semi-final stage.
So, can Hinkley’s 2022 side do what the 2008 Power couldn’t and salvage their season?
Here are the big issues hanging over the Power ahead of a huge game against the Demons.
PRELIM SCARS?
Speaking on Triple M on Saturday after the loss to the Crows, Power captain Tom Jonas remained confident that there weren’t lingering impacts on the playing group from the prelim horror show.
“I think when you get to 0-3 you start to flip the bed and look for anything,” he said.
“Maybe there is something there, we don’t think so and it may be subconscious.
“But we feel like we had a really strong pre-season, we’ve obviously had a few injuries and haven’t played some great footy.”
But with every loss and every poor performance the argument that there are some form of lingering scars from the preliminary final loss grows stronger.
The Power came out slow against the Gold Coast in their pre-season game, and again in the first half against the Crows in the Community Series.
They can be satisfied with their effort and intensity in Round 1 against Brisbane, and they were better in the Showdown.
But sandwiched in this was a horror show in Round 2 against Hawthorn.
Hinkley said after the Crows loss that the Power just had to focus on finding that first win.
“We know how good they can be when they are playing well but we aren’t playing well, our round 1 wasn’t quite there but it was a pretty strong showing,” he said.
“Last week was nowhere near it, tonight was a step in the right direction but they know they have to keep moving.
“They are led by a good person in Tom, he won’t let them drop off. It’s Round 3, coming up Round 4 it is too early to think of anything outside of let’s work towards our next win.”
The Power wouldn’t be the first team to be carrying baggage from a crushing loss the previous year at the start of the following season.
Former Crows senior assistant Scott Camporeale said Port looked “flat”.
“They don’t look in sync,” he said on Grandstand SA.
“They have played a lot of footy and there has been a lot of expectation over them over the past couple of years.
“But do you feel like they have flattened off … it looks a bit similar to when Melbourne made the prelim final in 2018 the next year they were flat.”
IN KEN WE STILL TRUST?
Hanging over all of this is the debate around whether Hinkley is still the right man for the job.
He is still contracted until the end of 2023, and is coming off the back of consecutive preliminary finals.
But not even the staunchest Hinkley supporter can argue that the pressure and criticism isn’t mounting from the fans.
After the past two Power games, “Ken Hinkley” has been trending on Twitter, and the vast majority of posts about the Port senior coach were at the very best questioning whether his 10th season should be his last.
Gun wingman Karl Amon said the pressure shouldn’t just be on Hinkley for the 0-3 start to the season.
“I think from our perspective, it’s not all on Ken,” he said on Grandstand SA.
“It’s on the playing group, the coaching group; we know we haven’t had the start we want this year.
“We can’t leave that to Ken, it comes back to the entire football club, really.”
Prior to the Showdown Charlie Dixon said he was sick of the negativity.
“Just support us, get behind us, let’s go and do it together. Do you want to do it together or do you want to jump off,” he said on FIVEaa.
“I’m sick of it.”
Port chairman David Koch says the “intense pressure” on Hinkley in South Australia makes “AFL gurus in Victoria shake their head”.
But after the loss in the Showdown this pressure is only to get more intense with more and more fans appearing to have made up their minds.
“Once the fans start to turn on you it can be really difficult,” ex Power games record holder Kane Cornes said on the Sunday Footy Show.
GAME STYLE QUESTIONS
The Power have faced questions over whether their system, in offence particularly, can hold up and win big games – especially with Dixon currently injured.
They did change their attacking approach for the Showdown, bringing in Sam Mayes and Jed McEntee to go slightly smaller up forward.
“We have to keep working on what we have,” Hinkley said.
“I thought we had really good pressure around the ball, particularly in our forward half.”
Rather than kick it long to a contest and hope that either Todd Marshall or Mitch Georgiades can bring it to ground and get their smalls involved, the Power lowered their eyes a lot more going inside their forward-50 early against the Crows.
But former Power favourite Brad Ebert said they reverted to the previous game style, to their detriment.
“I liked the way that they started to lower the eyes and started going inside their forward 50 and they way they changed it up in their defensive 50 and taking the game on a little bit,” he said on Triple M post-match.
“But then they started to resort back to that game style of kicking it long, go to a pack and trying to run on.
“It works at times but I wonder if a team like Melbourne, a team like Carlton, they will be able to scout that and I wonder how they are going to go in adjusting to two of the in form sides of the competition.”
Hinkley said there were “two or three” clear aspects the Power needed to work on, with 14 behinds evidence of finishing issues.
“Kicking and finishing, that was the same (this week),” he said.
“Defensively, we let goals go through that we shouldn’t.
“We just fundamentally got some things wrong at key moments.”
After conceding 13 goals against the Hawks through set shots, the Power had the Crows score 9.3 on them in the Showdown.
Amon also conceded that teams might be working out ways to suffocate the Power’s ball movement and stop them moving the footy with speed.
“Yeah possibly, I think that’s the way that we like to play our football but I think when we are playing our best we can pull off that exciting and brave brand of football,” he said.
INJURIES
The absence of Dixon – who had surgery on his foot in pre-season – is being felt considerably.
And after a setback last week, the Power will be without their spearhead for up to another month – with their next four games against Melbourne, Carlton, West Coast and St Kilda.
He isn’t the only star who has been on the sidelines.
Aliir Aliir is also about a month away after syndesmosis surgery, Orazio Fantasia is still out for up to two months after knee surgery, Tom Clurey is around two weeks away from returning to action while Robbie Gray has missed the past two games through a knee injury and then through Covid-19 protocols.
Sam Skinner had to be withdrawn at three-quarter time against the Crows, leaving only Tom Jonas and Trent McKenzie – who has had injury issues himself for the past two games – as the only two tall defenders for the final quarter.
Hinkley said this can’t be an excuse for the Power.
“We won’t feel sorry for ourselves, footy injuries happen,” he said.
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