Port Adelaide has gone backwards in 2022 after coming into the season hoping for a flag

‘We’re still here and look out’ was Ken Hinkley’s warning to the competition in February. But everything sounds very different now. Here’s where Port Adelaide is at.

The language is changing at Port Adelaide.

After weeks of talking up its finals hopes, as long as it could keep winning, the Power’s 12-point home loss to Geelong on Saturday seemed to leave a sense of internal deflation about the likelihood of September action.

Port Adelaide is officially in calculator and ‘you-never-know’ territory.

When a club starts talking mathematics, its finals hopes are all but over.

Power defender Darcy Byrne-Jones was doing so in the change rooms post-match.

And that was an hour before the Western Bulldogs’ thrilling win over Melbourne at Marvel Stadium put them two wins and 6.5 per cent ahead of Port Adelaide with four rounds left.

“Mathematically we’re still a chance and that gives you hope, but I guess the more you keep losing and the longer it gets, the reality of making it does go down,” Byrne-Jones told News Corp.

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A dejected Tom Jonas leaves the Adelaide Oval after his side’s loss. Picture: Getty Images

“But I don’t think it changes the way you go about things or the way you play.

“The message is no matter what happens, finals or no finals, we’ve still got so much to play for.”

The language at Port Adelaide at the start of the season was very different.

It was about challenging again for the flag and warning rival clubs they were not going anywhere after last year’s humiliating, 71-point preliminary final defeat at home to the Dogs.

“We’re still here and look out,” Power coach Ken Hinkley told The Advertiser in February.

“I see the way the blokes train, I see the way they’ve come back and the way they compete, and I’ve got absolute confidence in us as a football club achieving our goal.”

Hinkley was optimistic about his side’s premiership prospects on the back of consecutive preliminary finals.

Instead, Port Adelaide has gone backwards.

Byrne-Jones said the club’s position on the ladder was a little hard to believe.

“The last couple of seasons prior to this year we were a really consistent team and won a lot of footy,” he said.

“To start the year the way we did and be in the position we are, it’s not something I expected at the start of the year but it’s the reality so we’ve got to deal with it.”

While the Power’s 0-5 opening to the campaign will be pointed to as the main reason behind it missing the finals, the club is also 1-3 from its past four games.

That win was at home against struggling GWS and those losses were by eight, 14 and 12 points to premiership contenders Fremantle, Melbourne and Geelong.

Port Adelaide let themselves down in key moments. Picture: Getty Images

Hinkley’s side had its chances but blew them in familiar fashion.

Going down in tight games and being let down by poor patches when teams kicked several successive goals.

Port Adelaide is 2-6 this year in matches decided by 12 points or fewer.

It was 5-0 last season.

“We can’t finish in the moments we need to finish,” Hinkley said.

“There’s a consistency issue there, there’s turnover issues at the wrong time.”

Geelong grabbed momentum late in the second quarter when it kicked four goals in 11 minutes, some gifted by awful Port Adelaide turnovers and decision-making.

Byrne-Jones said as a collective, Power players were not being good teammates as often as they should with things like playing their role, getting to the right spots or going when needed, with or without the ball.

“They (the Cats) are top of the ladder for a reason, they play really good team footy and we’re probably not quite as consistent in that area,” he said.

“The results speak for themselves.”

Struggling to score in the last quarter was again an issue on Saturday.

A fortnight ago, the Power ranked second-last in the league for points scored in fourth quarters for 2022.

Ken Hinkley has some big decisions to make. Picture: Getty Images

Against Geelong, the hosts kicked just one major from 10 inside 50s in the last term.

That was despite entering the stanza with a seven-point lead, its season on the line and all the momentum after an eight-goal-to-one third quarter.

“To come back and get so close – we had a couple of chances late, then they had a couple and made the most of them,” Byrne-Jones said.

This week Port Adelaide players and coaches will no doubt say the club plans to focus on beating Collingwood, keep whatever hope it has alive and then its ladder position will take care of itself at the end of the season.

But the way it is playing, you cannot see the Power winning all of its next four games – against the Magpies (MCG), Richmond (home), Essendon (Marvel Stadium) and Adelaide (home) – let alone have other results fall its way.

Port Adelaide’s tilt at making a third consecutive finals campaign is effectively done.

And no matter how it ends from here, this year will have been a significant step in the wrong direction for a club aiming to win three premierships by 2025.

“With so much on the line, it (Saturday’s loss) really stings,” Byrne-Jones said.

“It stings more than most.”

Port Adelaide’s season is all but over. Picture: Getty Images

HINKLEY: STUTTERING PORT LIKE LOOKING AT SEASON IN MIRROR

Matt Turner

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says Saturday’s home loss to Geelong is reflective of his side’s season, in that short spells of poor football have cost it victories.

The Power stormed back from 34 points down at half-time to be seven ahead at the final break, only to lose by two goals.

It was left to rue a error-riddled period late in the second quarter, when Geelong kicked four majors in 11 minutes to take the ascendancy and ensure Port Adelaide had to spend some petrol tickets to get back into the contest.

Asked if the defeat, which left the Power’s finals hopes hanging by a thread, was bitter, Hinkley said “it’s been us”.

“We’ve been OK, good enough at times, but not for long enough — that’s the reality,” Hinkley said.

“I think it’s seven minutes, eight minutes and over the course of the year I think that’s what it’s been. But that’s just an excuse.

Ken Hinkley and his players now need to win their remaining four games, as well as rely on other teams around it losing if they are any chance at finals.

“That means you don’t play football long enough at the level you have to play to be at the top. “If you look at the ladder, we probably don’t belong in the ‘good’ (team category).”

Hinkley said it might have looked like the Power dropped its intensity late in the second quarter, but that often happened when turnovers were made in bad spots.

“They’re almost undefendable,” he said.

Hinkley said there was not much between the sides in the last quarter.

Geelong outscored the Power 4.4 to 1.3 but the hosts had their chances and could not take them.

“They got a nice run, got a nice bounce of the ball at the right time, they had some balls for their way and some decisions fall their way,” Hinkley said.

To make the finals now, the Power will almost certainly need to win its remaining four games, as well as rely on other teams around it losing.

Port players leave the ground after losing to the Cats at Adelaide Oval. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Their chances look all but over.

Hinkley said the team would quickly turn its attention to next week’s game against Collingwood at the MCG “to give ourselves whatever chance we have”.

“We will still be in the contest as long as we possibly can,” he said.

“Even then, (if it becomes impossible) I expect you play the right way.”

Charlie Dixon was arguably best on ground after helping to revive the team in the third term.

“He leads the ‘we don’t give up’,” Hinkley said.

“He’s an outstanding representation of our footy club with the way he goes about things.”

Dan Houston (concussion) has been ruled out of next week’s game.

Hinkley expected sore trio Dixon, Zak Butters and Mitch Georgiades to face the Magpies.

Cats switch off power after Port stampede

Jason Phelan

Adelaide’s finals bid might be all but over after Saturday night’s 12-point loss to Geelong, but Ken Hinkley’s men didn’t go quietly into the night, the gallant Power pushing the Cats all the way in a pulsating encounter.

Port trailed by 34 points at halftime but scores were level with five minutes to go in an enthralling contest following a Charlie Dixon-inspired fightback.

With the result in the balance, four-goal hero Tom Hawkins stepped up to boot the last two majors of the night to seal a memorable 16.10 (106) to 14.10 (94) win at Adelaide Oval.

Star Geelong veterans Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood had just 10 possessions each to three-quarter time, but Tom Atkins played out of his skin to help drag his side across the line for Geelong’s ninth win in a row.

“We’re proud of them but we’re also really conscious that our feet should be on the ground,” Chris Scott said.

“We need to keep working on our game and improving.

“We feel like we only got some momentum and cohesion around the mid-season bye so we’re pretty early in our ambition to get our game at its peak.”

Isaac Smith celebrates a goal as the Cats steadied to get the job done against Port Adelaide. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Needing a win to keep the season alive, Port had willing contributors all over the ground in an impressive display, with Ollie Wines, Travis Boak and Jeremy Finlayson all prominent.

Mitch Georgiades took a contender for mark of the year in a tense final term but he couldn’t add to his three goals as his set shot hit the post.

HOLMES SWOOPS

The Power opened the contest with an energy and enthusiasm that had the Cats on the back foot, with the home side thoroughly deserving of its early two-goal lead.

Amon led the way with 13 first-quarter possessions, but one of those touches opened the door for the visitors to hit the scoreboard and settle into the game.

Looking for Darcy Byrne-Jones, Amon aimed an ill-advised kick across the face of goal, which Max Holmes intercepted then walked into an open goal.

It sparked a run of three unanswered majors that was broken when Todd Marshall snapped brilliantly in traffic.

Despite all its good work in applying a tonne of pressure on Geelong, Port trailed by four points at the first break after Jeremy Cameron kicked truly as the siren sounded.

Travis Boak after kicking a third quarter goal as Port Adelaide fought back from a 34-point deficit, but in the end couldn’t sustain their late surge. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

INTERCEPTORS ON

Port largely avoided Geelong’s vaunted intercept defenders in the first quarter, but Jack Henry, Sam De Koning and Jake Kolodjashnij helped turn the game in the second.

The trio’s marks thwarted repeated Power attacks, restricting the home side to one goal for the term, then launched damaging counter-attacks.

The powerful one-two punch combination of Hawkins and Cameron landed telling blows as the visitors made their move with a six-goals-to-one quarter.

Hinkley’s men didn’t help their cause with the Cats’ last two majors of the half coming from turnovers.

Cameron’s second came after a Dan Houston kick into the middle was cut off and Isaac Smith kicked a goal after the siren after Ryan Burton hit him on the chest on the 50m arc with one second left on the clock.

Jeremy Cameron kicks a goal as the Cats regain the ascendancy in the final quarter. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

DIXON DAZZLES

With the season teetering on the brink 34 points in arrears, Port’s response was something to behold in a stunning eight-goals-to-one third quarter.

The choice of 203cm ruckman Shannon Neale as the medical sub raised some eyebrows, but it was a like-for-like swap when Rhys Stanley left the game with a knee injury.

Even so, Dixon got on top at the stoppages and rallied his troops with a stirring display.

The powerful big man had 11 possessions, seven score involvements and kicked two goals to help turn a game-high deficit at halftime to a seven-point lead at the last change.

“We weren’t good enough for long enough … that’s the reality,” Hinkley said.

“It’s seven or eight (down) minutes and over the course of the year that’s what it’s been.

“That’s just an excuse, that means that you don’t play football for long enough at the level you have to play at to be at the top.”

Ken Hinkley asks his players for another effort at three-quarter time but the home side came up short when it counted. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

SCOREBOARD

POWER 4.3 5.5 13.7 14.10 94

CATS. 5.1 11.3 12.6 16.10 106

PHELAN’S BEST

Power: Dixon, Wines, Amon, Powell-Pepper, Boak, Aliir.

Cats: Atkins, Hawkins, Tuohy, Kolodjashnij, Guthrie, Cameron.

GOALS

Power: Georgiades 3, Dixon 2, Marshall 2, Powell-Pepper 2, Boak, Farrell, Amon, McEntee, Gray.

Cats: Hawkins 4, Cameron 3, Rohan 2, Stengle 2, Close, Dangerfield, Holmes, Miers, Smith.

Charlie Dixon was a key figure in Port’s third-quarter comeback. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

INJURIES

Power: Houston (concussion).

Cats: Stanley (knee).

UMPIRES

Rosebury, Broadbent, Power

VENUE

Adelaide Oval

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

JASON PHELAN’S VOTES

3 Atkins (Geel)

2 Dixon (Port)

1 Hawkins (Geel)

Scott never doubted Cats could steady

Geelong coach Chris Scott says his side maintained belief it could turn things around in a finals-like atmosphere when it relinquished the lead during Port Adelaide’s stunning eight-to-one third quarter on Saturday.

The Power had all the momentum and the crowd behind it heading into the final quarter after turning a 34-point half-time deficit into an eight-point advantage by the last break.

But the Cats steadied, kicking the first two goals of the last term inside eight minutes and holding on late, thanks to consecutive majors from Tom Hawkins.

Scott said the environment going into the last quarter mimicked a final.

“We all did (believe the team could win),” Scott said.

“This is a situation that’s impossible to recreate in training so let’s embrace that moment and go after it.

“The home crowd, the momentum — I think it was a good experience for our guys.”

Scott said his side getting beaten in contested football during the third term played into the Power’s hands.

“If you play Port that way, they can be really dominant,” he said.

Geelong ruckman Rhys Stanley had been one of the best players on the ground during the first half before being substituted after half-time with a knee problem.

Stanley was expected to be sidelined for “the medium term”.

“That made it a little bit harder for our guys to adjust to how aggressive Port were in going forward,” Scott said.

“But therein lies the opportunity as well.

“If you’re aggressive going forward, then you’re a little bit exposed the other side of the ball.”

Geelong’s win enhanced its premiership credentials and ensured it went 4-0 without suspended star defender Tom Stewart, who was set to return next week.

Scott said he was proud of the team but “really conscious that our feet should be on the ground”.

He said the side felt it had not yet peaked because it only started to get momentum around the mid-season bye.

“We’ve had a bit of luck here and there … but I’m a big advocate that every year is a new year and within a year, you’ve got to stay in the moment a little bit, you can’t sit back and depend on what you had been two years ago,” he said.

“But I do admire that and can’t remember situations where we turn up our toes.

“We have a group of players that when it gets tough like that and they need to stand up, at least they’re up for the challenge.”

Scott thought Patrick Dangerfield’s toepoke midway through the fourth quarter, which was contentiously called a point without being reviewed, was a goal.

But he backed the ARC system, saying it was important to keep the game free-flowing rather than having captain’s ask for it to be looked at again, as happened in some other sports.

Originally published as Port Adelaide has gone backwards in 2022 after coming into the season hoping for a flag