AFL Round 10 Port Adelaide v Geelong: Ken Hinkley responds to Luke Beveridge’s Willie Rioli comments after Geelong horror show
On Friday, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge hit back at Power chairman David Koch’s claims about his players. After Port’s horror loss on Saturday, Ken Hinkley weighed in.
Port Adelaide senior coach Ken Hinkley has moved to ease the tension between his club and the Western Bulldogs, in the wake of Luke Beveridge firing back at Power chairman David Koch’s claims that Dogs players made “culturally insensitive” remarks to Willie Rioli.
In his pre-match media conference this week, Beveridge took exception to Koch’s claims that Bulldogs players made remarks that led to Rioli making a threat to defender Bailey Dale post match.
Rioli was given a one-match suspension by the AFL after previous incidents of a similar nature came to light, and Koch said comments from other players, including the Bulldogs, played a part in the “build-up and frustrations”.
Beveridge fired back at Koch on Friday, saying his players “would never say anything to an Indigenous player that’s culturally insensitive” and this approach by the Power was “enabling” Rioli and his behaviour.
When asked about what Beveridge had said following the Power’s heavy loss to Geelong on Saturday, Hinkley stressed that the club was not “pointing the finger at any particular individual”.
“I did see a little bit of what was said and for me, the club is on record about trying to make some change and I think that is what we have set out to do and certainly not pointing the finger at any particular individual,” he said.
“But other than to say that as a competition we need to do better with lots of things as far as Indigenous players go and that’s the point we are trying to make.
“Certainly not laying blame on any individual.”
Beveridge declared the Dogs would remember Koch’s comments “for next time” and Hinkley said it was an issue for the clubs to sort out, not the two senior coaches.
“I wasn’t involved in Luke’s press conference, I am sure the clubs have had some conversation at some point and maybe they will have another one but it is not for Luke and Ken to sort out,” he said.
“I think this is a club discussion that needs to go on.
“What our club is trying to do is trying to shine a light on something that still needs to get better.
“I think the competition and the AFL are clear on that and I think they even sent out a letter in the last couple of days around what some of those things should and could look like.
“All we are trying to do is make sure the game is a better place for our Indigenous players to play and feel like they belong.”
When quizzed on Beveridge’s use of the word “enabling” when it came to the Power’s approach to Rioli in this saga Hinkley did not weigh in on it.
“I think you need to ask Luke around his conversation, my thought is around what we are trying to do as a competition to make it a better place for Indigenous players,” he said.
“We just want to shine a light that we have to get better.”
Rioli returned for the Power in the demolition job by the Cats, finishing with 15 disposals and five tackles.
Port a team in transition? Ken hits back at Scott’s call
– Jason Phelan
With Port Adelaide’s season balanced on a knife’s edge, the Power is sweating on the outcome of scans to injured trio Jason Horne-Francis, Lachie Jones and Josh Sinn.
Horne-Francis and Jones both suffered hamstring injuries in the first half of Saturday’s 76-point thumping at the hands of Geelong, while Sinn copped a nasty hip injury in the opening minutes of the game.
The Cats suffered their own injury toll, with Patrick Dangerfield and Jack Bowes also ruled out with hamstring injuries in the first half at Adelaide Oval.
“They’re all bad, they’re all expected to miss more than one week, I’d imagine, but we’ll wait and see what the scans say,” coach Ken Hinkley said.
“We’re not in the position right now to say whether they’re one week or two week or a four-week hamstrings.
“Clearly for both sides, the Cats lost a couple too … it was a significant hamstring day, wasn’t it?
“Slippery conditions, the weather, I don’t know, all those things you have to consider, but it seems a bit too coincidental to have for all in the first half, two very early on in the game.”
Hinkley’s charges offered little resistance in the second half, suffering a third loss of 76 or more points this season, to make it three defeats on the trot and slip to a 4-6 record.
The coach felt his side’s injury toll played a part in the loss to Geelong, but conceded there were more issues at play as his team struggles to find consistency.
Cats coach Chris Scott described the Power as a team in transition in his post-match press conference, but Hinkley disagreed with that label.
“I don’t think that’s completely accurate, but I imagine why people would think that and say that,” the coach said.
“That’s the reality of what are we four and six? So, that’s why people will come to those conclusions.
“Some of the losses have been quite big, significantly big, but I don’t think it’s a transition moment (for us as a team).
“I think we (need to) come to terms with what’s really, really important for us and play it for a long periods of most games.
“We’re not terrible, but we’ve had some terrible losses.
“We haven’t been consistently good, and that’s the challenge for any team.
“If you want to be at the top, you’ve got to be consistently good at that.
“If you’re inconsistent, you’ll be where we are currently, it doesn’t mean you can’t get back to doing what you do and knowing what you do, and we do know what we do well.
“The challenge is for us to make it more consistent than we have been able to do this year in the first 10 rounds.”
Injury adds to insult in another Power horror show
A bizarre first half of injury carnage on Saturday claimed star Geelong skipper Patrick Dangerfield and Port Adelaide’s Jason Horne-Francis, but the Cats overcame the injury toll to smash the desperately disappointing Power.
Jeremy Cameron was quiet early, but exploded for a stunning seven goals in a dominant performance by Geelong that consigned the struggling Power to a third defeat in a row.
Dangerfield and Horne-Francis suffered hamstring injuries in cold and slippery conditions at Adelaide Oval, as did Lachie Jones and Jack Bowes, while Josh Sinn copped a game-ending hip injury in the first quarter.
With the Power down an extra player in the second half, Geelong took full advantage with a five-goals-to-one third quarter.
With Port exerting little pressure, the rampant Cats piled on eight unanswered goals in a devastating burst before Mitch Georgiades broke the run with four minutes remaining.
The conditions made for a tough slog, with the first score not coming until 12 minutes into the first term, but Bailey Smith’s class shone through, the prolific onballer continuing his fine vein of form.
Oisin Mullin largely nullified the impact of Zak Butters, with Port floundering in the second half, conceding 12 of 13 goals at one stage in a drubbing that leaves its season delicately poised.
The loss left Ken Hinkley’s side with a 4-6 record, while the Cats bounced back from a tight loss to GWS to improve to 6-4.
CASUALTY CHAOS
Horne-Francis, Sinn and Bowes left the game in the first quarter, with Dangerfield and Jones knocked out in the second.
Sinn limped to the bench inside the opening two minutes after copping Mark O’Connor’s knee to his left hip then disaster struck again when Horne-Francis pulled up from a chase clutching his right hamstring.
The young star cut a disconsolate figure as he limped from the ground between two trainers to take his place on the bench.
Then Bowes and Dangerfield departed within minutes of each other, with both suffering injuries to their right hamstrings.
“We’ll probably have to play a bit slower clearly, a bit more straight line, and keep it in a bit of a contest,” Hinkley told Fox Footy at halftime.
“We’ll see what happens from there because, you know, they’re down a couple two, but they’ve got one extra one on the bench.”
NOT AGAIN!
Jones had been doing an excellent job on Cameron, but his day ended prematurely 20 minutes into the second quarter.
Jones has an unfortunate history with hamstring injuries, and he pulled up clutching his left one after evading Cameron and getting a handball off.
The Power defender was unable to go with Cameron on a lead before he could leave the ground, with the Cats’ forward bagging his first after taking an uncontested mark.
Cameron went back-to-back in fine style, slotting an outstanding goal from out near the 50m arc on the boundary to give the visitors a nine-point lead at the main break.
The star Cat rubbed salt in the raw wounds of home supporters with his seventh coming just seconds before the final siren.
MAXIMUM RANGE
Max Holmes provided a bit of comic relief after the halftime siren after he was awarded a free kick – the problem was the ambitious Cat was 85m from goal on the boundary line.
Undeterred, he moved a bunch of television cables out of his way and set sail, but his ill-timed torp landed well short.
SCOREBOARD
POWER 2.4 3.6 4.9 5.9 (39)
CATS 3.1 5.3 10.9 17.13 (115)
PHELAN’S BEST POWER: Rozee, Powell-Pepper, Wines, Burton, Visentini. CATS: Cameron, Smith, Dempsey, Miers, O’Connor, Mullin, J Henry, Atkins.
GOALS POWER: Powell-Pepper 2, Richards, Byrne-Jones, Georgiades. CATS: Cameron 7, Dempsey 2, Stengle, Neale, Mannagh, Humphries, O Henry, Close, Bowes, Atkins.
INJURIES POWER: Horne-Francis (hamstring), Jones (hamstring), Sinn (hip). CATS: Dangerfield (hamstring), Bowes (hamstring).
UMPIRES Fleer, Deboy, Heffernan, Stevic
33,508 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 Cameron (Geel)
2 Smith (Geel)
1 Dempsey (Geel)
Add your comment to this story
The Bendigo boys who remained inseparable – forever
Born less than 20 minutes apart, Adam Selwood tragically died on Saturday 102 days after losing twin brother Troy. As GLENN McFARLANE writes, it was an inseparable bond that was cut heartbreakingly short.
Oliver’s mate braces for possible tag in clash of midfield titans
Clayton Oliver’s new role as Melbourne’s tagger could get the ultimate test when the Demons face a star-studded Brisbane midfield on Sunday.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout