AFL 2022: Port Adelaide unmoved by supporter outrage over coach Ken Hinkley
One Port Adelaide supporter took his displeasure about coach Ken Hinkley to the club’s front door.
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The unity and belief in Ken Hinkley at Port Adelaide won‘t be moved by the passion of a single supporter who felt the need to post a “SACK HINKLEY” message on the main sign outside the club’s headquarters.
Now two full games outside the top eight with four rounds to go after Saturday’s loss to Geelong, Port assistant coach Brett Montgomery said the odds were “definitely stacked against us” to reach the post-season and conceded the players had not met expectations in 2022.
But Montgomery said the playing and coaching group was “united” and that included backing Hinkley despite a suggestion from club legend Kane Cornes he could be the perfect man to help North Melbourne’s rebuild.
Montgomery acknowledged the sign, which greeted players and staff on Monday, was an indication of supporter passion but also “water off a duck’s back” to Hinkley who is never far from pressure.
“He feels the expectation, he sets the expectation. I don’t think he’ll be any stranger to that (pressure),” Montgomery said.
“What we know about our supporter base is their passion levels are a little higher than most. Whether that’s real or not, that’s how we see it and we think that’s a good thing.
“That passion, if that has boiled over to a sign on Port Road, again, that’s just passion that our people have.
“He’ll push on, he’s got belief in the group, the group has belief in him.
“One thing we have been here is united and there’s also been a huge amount of belief. I still see a group ... who come to work looking to improve and I don’t see that changing.
On Port Road this morning atleast one @PAFC supporter has voiced their displeasure with Ken Hinkley. Thoughts on this Port Adelaide supporters. pic.twitter.com/qsKjoCmhah
— SEN SA 1629 (@1629senSA) July 24, 2022
It's inevitable. No amount of propaganda from @michelangeloruc or @kanecornes will be able to stop it. @kochie_online 's 10-year coach gamble is over, and it hasn't paid off. pic.twitter.com/kIoH1iXu78
— Has Ken Hinkley been sacked yet? (@KenSacked) July 24, 2022
Montgomery said Port have some “urgency” to get livewire forward Orazio Fantasia back in to the senior side and this three-goal effort in his SANFL return has thrown his name in to the selection mix for the club’s last roll of the finals dice against Collingwood this week.
Fantasia’s only AFL appearance in an injury-interrupted 2022 season was as an unused substitute in round nine and he has featured in the SANFL just three times, most recently in his latest comeback at Woodville Oval on Saturday night.
But Montgomery conceded an early thought to get him straight back in to the AFL team was misguided and they had to look at the goalkicker through clear eyes.
“We’ll sit down and review his performance as we always do and see where that fits against the guys in the team,” he said.
“Obviously there’s some urgency to get him in the side because we love what he can do. we’ll push all those boundaries to make sure that it he’s ready and he’s got a level that can perform, we’ll take full advantage of that, but we can’;t do that at the expense of the rest of the team.
“There was some excitement around what throwing him in there straight away might have done for our team. But he was definitely short of that AFL gallop and I think at times us reaching for the result we are ultimately searching for can sometimes cloud our judgment around what that guy can deliver off playing no footy.”
Montgomery said the potential availability of up to 16 more players for the final month of the season would be enough to ensure Port brought it’s “absolute best” for the remainder of the season.
“We have an important four games to play against tough opponents. There is nothing else to do other than prepare at our absolute best,” he said. .
“We are still a good team. We just have not been able to get the job done.
“It is a good list, a good team ... it just has not hit the absolute highs of expectation this year.”
Originally published as AFL 2022: Port Adelaide unmoved by supporter outrage over coach Ken Hinkley
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