‘Seething’: Captain’s 10-word sledge exposed as AFL feud twists
A fiery sledge during the AFL’s most divisive incident of 2024 has come to light with two club’s privately “seething”.
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All eyes will be on Port Adelaide and Hawthorn when the sides meet on Sunday night to close the curtains of Gather Round, with a “feral undertone” tipped to bubble to the surface.
It comes after a controversial semi-final thriller between the clubs last September that saw the Power pip the Hawks before Ken Hinkley taunted Jack Ginnivan with an aeroplane gesture.
That was in reference to Ginnivan’s suggestion earlier in the week that the Hawks would blow past the Power and set up a preliminary final meeting with Sydney at the SCG.
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Hawthorn captain James Sicily took the most exception to Hinkley’s antics, which would later result in a steep $20,000 sanction for the veteran mentor.
According to the Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph — who deep-dived the brewing rivalry with colleague Glenn McFarlane — the Hawks still have Hinkley’s antics front-of-mind, while the Power remain aggrieved by the harsh nature of their coach’s financial penalty.
“Tension is an understatement,” Ralph began on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.
“It’s supposed to have a carnival atmosphere, Gather Round. It’s supposed to be so festive. But you know what? There’s almost this feral undertone.
“Eight months on, Port Adelaide is still seething with injustice about that $20,000 fine to Ken Hinkley after the aeroplane stuff with Jack Ginnivan.
“We’ve done the deep dive. A former Adelaide player in Steven Rowe … he said: ‘In other states, there’s a different set of rules to what happens in South Australia. When it is the Crows or Port Adelaide, we always seem to get screwed by the AFL’.
“Sunday night will crackle with tension. The Hawks … they’re still filthy, they’re still remembering what Ken did. Don’t worry, the players haven’t forgotten what Ken did.
“A Hawks insider told me Jack Ginnivan has already suggested he might have a special salute or something if they win, and there’s an entirely bizarre post-script that could occur.”
Ginnivan on Tuesday night played down the significance of the fixture but revealed he’d have the ‘aeroplane’ ready to go.
“It’s pretty obvious (why) the AFL put it last (in Gather Round), and I’m sure they’re going to use the game to promote the game as much as possible, but for us it’s just another game,” he told Channel 9.
“You’ll have to wait to see if I kick (a goal), but I’m sure I’m going to have it in the back pocket.”
But the Power supporters could also have something up their sleeves, while the playing group will have ammunition of their own after comments reportedly made by Hawks captain James Sicily.
“Now, as Steven Rowe said, if Port Adelaide does win, all the Power fans should fold aeroplanes with their (AFL) Records and send them into the Adelaide Oval breeze as a reminder to the AFL of the injustice,” Ralph continued on Fox Footy.
“My understanding there with James Sicily (is) he called Port Adelaide a ‘nowhere club’. So, this could absolutely get out of control.”
The Herald Sun on Wednesday reported Sicily’s full comment: “You have been a f***ing nowhere club for eight years”.
Midweek Tackle panellist and Fox Footy commentator Corbin Middlemas said he hoped Ginnivan did get the chance to whip out the ‘aeroplane’ salute.
“It’d be tremendous theatre,” he said.
“I think it goes to prove again that you can’t promote these games into existence. They have to live organically with the playing group, and that’s exactly what this kind of rivalry is.”
Originally published as ‘Seething’: Captain’s 10-word sledge exposed as AFL feud twists
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