Round 2 – Port Adelaide v Hawthorn: Hinkley under pressure
It was Port Adelaide’s second straight ten-goal loss at Adelaide Oval that bookended the preliminary final home disaster to the Western Bulldogs last season to the latest edition of stage fright against resurgent Hawthorn Hawks on Saturday night.
Quite clearly the scars of that crumbling against the Doggies are freshly open.
Yes, there was no Aliir Aliir, nor the forward presence of Charlie Dixon and others, but after a promising albeit fruitless fight shown a week earlier against actual legit premiership contenders Brisbane Lions at the Gabba, the inefficient capitulation against a Mitch Lewis and Jack Gunston-led Hawks offers no excuses.
“It was that far away from what we expected and what we wanted and what we needed,” Port coach Ken Hinkley said of his side’s display.
“It’s maximum disappointment. You can’t anticipate that type of performance.”
That’s captain obvious.
Tell us something that the Port faithful want to hear.
Six-year player Todd Marshall plays timid football.
Three possessions all game.
At the opposite end of the late and great Russell Ebert’s guts and determination scale, Travis Boak (39 possessions) and Sam Powell-Pepper (three third quarter goals) busted their proverbial butts off.
The rest played in spits and spurts in a midfield that was wasteful in its connection with virtual forwards.
Oh, did Port have forwards of any substance?
Save for emerging Mitch Georgiadis who actually contests for the aerial ball unlike his tall sidekicks as mentioned earlier and to be named below.
Key forward Jeremy Finlayson also has not set the world on fire.
The GWS Giants recruit is also under pressure to produce.
Saturday night was the night for Finlayson and Marshall to lead by example up forward.
The pair were schooled by returning James Sicily and firebrand key back Sam Frost.
Yes, it’s round two and yes, there’s time to turn things around but one senses a rumbling at Alberton – a sign that it would take more than this season to turn things around.
Perhaps under a different voice.
Carlton, Collingwood and the Hawks have sets of ears listening to a different tune orchestrated by a different conductor.
PORT ADELAIDE 0.3 3.6 7.10 7.14 (56)
HAWTHORN 3.2 8.4 14.4 19.6 (120)
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Powell-Pepper 3, Houston, Lycett, Motlop, Rozee
Hawthorn: Lewis 5, Gunston 3, Breust 3, Moore 2, Wingard 2, Macdonald, Nash, Newcombe, Ward
BEST
Port Adelaide: Boak, Powell-Pepper, Amon, Butters, Wines
Hawthorn: Lewis, Sicily, O’Meara, Mitchell, Ward, Gunston
INJURIES
Port Adelaide: McKenzie (ankle)
Hawthorn: Wingard (hamstring)
SUBSTITUTES
Port Adelaide: Jackson Mead (replaced Trent McKenzie in the third quarter)
Hawthorn: Tom Phillips (replaced Chad Wingard in the third quarter)
Crowd: 30,267 at Adelaide Oval
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Tall and intelligent and athletically built who calls a spade a spade. Love sports writing and sending letters and texts to the editor about AFL and the Port Adelaide Power – win, lose or draw. I do not sit on the fence. Soon to be 57! I played basketball and supers football having accomplished two Aust Masters Championships with the SA o35s (2006) and o40s (2009) and two All Australian Masters guernseys in 2008 and 2018. Have played amateur footy and a bit of cricket and basketball when living in Adelaide, Renmark, Paringa, Alice Springs and now Gladstone in Aueensland. I was also a sport newspaper journalist in the Alice (2013-15) and Gladstone (2015-20). Now I’m a postie and run a sport website Clear Play Media.
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All free. And always after a unique sport story of any code.
It happens every year where one contender comes up short, very short. Although Hinkley is a far better coach than Buckley, he’s been there a similar amount of time for similar results. If you do not take your chances, the shocker of a year will come, and players that walk on water one year wade through treacle the next.
Even the great Tommy Hafey, who got the Magpies to 5 grand finals in four years had a shocker of a year in 1982. By mid year he was gone.
So when the shocker happens, the natives get restless, and all the 5 year plans go out the window. So you either – play the kids, deal for draft picks, buy a Dangerfield, sack a Rene Kink or sack the coach. You rarely get the board to resign…
For the third year running, Coach Hinkley claimed this was the year of Port Adelaide. By continually making these claims, he has put himself in a bad position when his team fails. Should the Power fail again, I suspect the knives will be out for him.
I have heard the “this will burn in our guts” after the last 2 prelims and again after this fiasco. Not sure it means a thing any more, unless I see something different afterwards. Several of my fellow season ticket holder family left early – the first time in our lives> That was just an insult.