AFL 2022: Brett Montgomery first name to surface as Port Adelaide considers changes to footy dept

After having his position publicly guaranteed, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has revealed he never felt his position at Alberton was under threat for 2023.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he never doubted he would see out his contract because he trusted his conversations with the club.

Power chairman David Koch on Thursday night guaranteed Hinkley would be at Alberton for the last year of his deal in 2023, addressing weeks of speculation about the 10th-year mentor’s future.

Koch himself had stoked the external discussion about Hinkley’s job earlier this week by telling FIVEaa the club’s football program needed to turn things around “or watch out”, before having to clarify his comments on Channel 7.

Hinkley told reporters nothing had changed for him as a result of Koch had said this week.

“Take me for a bit silly, but I didn’t have any doubt I wouldn’t see out my contract and I didn’t need it to be confirmed,” Hinkley said.

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Port Adelaide has underachieved this year after making a preliminary final in 2021. Picture; Getty Images

“I trust and rely on people that I work with that are very honest and up front, and that’s the way we work.

“As I said on Monday night (on AFL 360), I had confidence I would certainly be coaching the club in 2023.

“I think there’s been plenty of public support from the club through the season, right back as far as round 12, 13.

“I think it got a little bit lost in some of the conversations this week but it was very clear last night.”

Hinkley insisted he was not disappointed in Koch’s comments because they were said with good intentions, highlighting that the football program had not met expectations.

“We all sometimes get in front of these things (microphones) and they can be a bit hard to get the right message out,” he said.

“I can understand how the headline came out but I don’t think there was any intent at all to cause any problems more than say ‘we’re not happy as a footy club’”.

Scrutiny has increased on Hinkley this season due to the club’s 0-5 start and its slide from consecutive preliminary finals to missing the top eight.

Port Adelaide sits 12th on the ladder entering Sunday’s game against Essendon at Marvel Stadium.

Hinkley said there was no doubt the club had underachieved this year so it would look closely at its football program at season’s end to determine what it needed to return to bounce back up, “which we expect will happen”.

Meanwhile, Hinkley said he was yet to have a conversation with veteran Robbie Gray about whether he wanted to play on.

Hinkley said Gray, who had been battling a knee issue since round 1, was being managed this week because he was sore and there was not any thought about whether the round 23 Showdown would be the four-time All-Australian’s farewell.

“Robbie Gray has the absolute right to make his own decisions because he’s been our greatest player of our football club in the AFL era in my simple view, so he’ll make those decisions when they best suit Robbie,” he said.

MORE TO COME

Could this be first domino to fall at Port?

- Jay Clark

Port Adelaide assistant coach Brett Montgomery could be on the move as the Power consider making changes to its football department for next season.

Ken Hinkley is expected to remain in charge as senior coach for 2023 but the club’s president David Koch said “something has got to change” after their worst season in a decade.

“We have got to make some hard decisions and we will assess every single line item in the football department,” Koch said.

“Turn it around or watch out.”

Montgomery has overseen the midfield unit, but is expected to weigh up his options for next season.

He departed Western Bulldogs on the eve of their finals campaign in August 2016 as the club went on to win a drought-breaking premiership under Luke Beveridge.

Brett Montgomery is expected to weigh up his options for next season.

The club is yet to hold formal discussions with its assistant coaches for next season but Hinkley continues to have strong support in the playing ranks and football department.

Chad Cornes (defence) and Nathan Bassett (forwards) are Port’s other two assistant line coaches.

Port made the preliminary final last year but has crashed out of finals contention in 2022 with eight wins from 20 games.

Clubs are meant to inform their assistant coaches by August 1 about their contract status for the following season to help give them time to assess other options.

Former GWS Giants’ coach Leon Cameron could be enticed to join John Longmire at Sydney Swans amid reported interest from Western Bulldogs.

GWS assistant coach Steve Johnson may also make a return home to Victoria after a stint at the Swans and Giants.

Robbo: Koch threw petrol on Hinkley fire

– Mark Robinson

Alastair Clarkson is more likely than not to coach next year, but it won’t be at Essendon, Port Adelaide or West Coast.

Scuttlebutt that one of those three clubs could make a late play for the four-time premiership coach can be put to bed.

The Bombers won’t make an official announcement on Ben Rutten – he is contracted for 2023 after all – but it’s understood the drawn-out review has determined he will coach next year.

Changes will be made around Rutten, which will include the appointment of a senior football figure to the coaching department, someone like a Mark Williams.

The Eagles have been deplorable this season, notwithstanding Covid and injuries as an excuse, and coach Adam Simpson has probably escaped white-hot criticism from the east-coast.

Not that he’s been missed in the west.

The Eagles, however, are backing Simpson. He has two losing seasons in his nine years at the helm – they are 2021 and 2022 – and has an overall winning percentage of 57.7.

Clarkson, in contrast, has coached almost double the number of games as Simpson – 390 to 201 – and has a winning percentage of 58.5. He has six losing seasons in 17.

The Eagles have committed to Simpson for the next three seasons.

“He already had a contract until the end of this year and we then recommitted for the next three years,’’ Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett told the Herald Sun. “It was at the end of 2021.’’

Where will Alastair Clarkson coach in 2023? Photo by Michael Klein

Nisbett said Clarkson was not on the club’s horizon.

“Adam is all in, we’ve committed to him, we’ve absolutely committed to him,” Nisbett said.

“There’s no doubt there will changes and a few other things we have to do.’’

Port Adelaide president David Koch is expected to honour Ken Hinkley’s final year of his contract, despite letting his ego suggest otherwise in a radio interview on Monday morning.

Koch is not shy when on the hustings and despite him not guaranteeing Hinkley’s position for 2023, he awkwardly tried to protect Hinkley from being the centrepiece of a supporter witch-hunt at season’s end.

But Koch missed the mark. He threw petrol on a fire which didn’t need it. “It’s not just about one individual person, it’s the whole program. Turn it around or watch out,” Koch said.

They are fighting words with two weeks until the end of the season, and words Hinkley did not need.

Port insists, however, Koch’s comments were not an invitation to Clarkson to give the club a call.

So, unless Koch goes entirely rogue in the near future – which would stun all club officials – Hinkley will be at Alberton next year.

West Coast is backing in Adam Simpson. Picture: Daniel Carson

Speculation linking Hinkley to North Melbourne exists because if Clarkson says no to North, Hinkley would appear to be a ready-made candidate: Experienced, good with people, can lead a program.

But Hinkley would have to go back on his word to join North. He said on AFL360 on Monday he wants to coach Port next year. “We all get there’s a finish line for everyone at some point, but as I sit here tonight, I’m more than confident that that won’t be at the end of 2022.”

That leaves North Melbourne and the Giants in contention for Clarkson, as it has been for a month now.

As of Tuesday, neither club was confident or pessimistic about their chances, although conjecture about ambassadorial money being available to Clarkson has flung a fly into the ointment.

If you were a North official, you’d have to wonder if in fact it was a level playing field in the pursuit of Clarkson, or have the Giants the advantage of offering Clarkson a wink, wink nudge, nudge ambassadorial deal on top of his coaching contract money?

For what it’s worth, an answer from Clarkson is expected within 10 days.