Port Adelaide get a whiff of success but coach knows which way the wind blows

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley had been under pressure until the Power hung on for a two-point victory in the AFL clash with St Kilda. Photograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

It was appropriate in a way, that the final kick of the Port Adelaide-St Kilda game, the kick that secured the win for the visitors, which perhaps kept Power coach Ken Hinkley in his job for another week, and which put everyone else out of their misery, was a shank. It had been that sort of game – an error-strewn, low-scoring and instantly forgettable affair. Sometimes footy is sublime. Sometimes it is like watching a Biden-Trump presidential debate.

Hinkley choked back tears afterwards. “It’s been a tough week,” he told Fox Footy. He would have taken the four points any which way. During the game, he had the same look he always does – like a dad watching his kids from the sidelines. Down on the bench, he’s not like Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, furiously moving his magnets and manipulating the game. Hinkley stands with his hands in his Port Adelaide puffer jacket – a cuddle here, a mild reproach there, a sip from his Pepsi Max, a shake of his head at the abominable skills on offer.

But Hinkley’s emotions got the better of him on the siren. The atmosphere around Port Adelaide has been poisonous this week. The fans booed him and left Adelaide Oval in droves last Saturday. A number of senior players were wheeled out to say they were fully behind their coach, and there’s no reason to doubt them. But there was nothing from the Power chairman or chief executive. It was an interesting contrast to rivals Adelaide, whose chief executive was quick to back in coach Matthew Nicks after they lost to Richmond.

Then there was the exchange on radio between former captain Warren Tredrea and veteran football reporter Caroline Wilson. It’s hard to think of two individuals less inclined to back down. It was mediated by Stephen ‘Rowey’ Rowe who, without trespassing on sensitivities, is not David Frost. You can get to the end of that segment like that and ask yourself – why are these people arguing again?

Above all, it begged the question – what the hell is a Port Adelaide board member, one who has strongly advocated for the removal of the coach, one who was voted onto the board as the voice of the disaffected, doing going on radio and fielding talkback calls, and nodding along to unhinged callers? What purpose does that serve? Tredrea, not entirely convincingly, described Wilson’s Footy Classified segment as a “hit piece”.

Port’s best footy this year has been exquisite. The first quarters against Collingwood and Geelong, the comeback against Hawthorn, and the torching of Essendon couldn’t have been more impressive. Only a month ago, they ambushed what was then seen as a premiership aspirant Geelong.

But it has all petered out. Against Carlton, the Power played kamikaze, headless football through the middle. They lacked the ability to slow the game down, to work through their gears, and Patrick Cripps put the game to bed in about five minutes. Both sides ended the round in the top four, but Carlton emerged as the far more serious team. Coming off the bye, they were flat as a tack against GWS. Against Brisbane, a dozen of the 2004 premiership team formed a guard of honour as the team ran out. But the Lions went to levels Port simply couldn’t compete with.

Port’s tall defenders were crucial against St Kilda but the coach was particularly lucky he had Jason Horne-Francis. “He’s going to be a scary player,” Hinkley said. Horne-Francis’ ability to break lines, to spread and push hard from contest to contest and to always make the right decision with ball in hand was a standout. But the reality is the Saints’ ineptitude gifted the Power the win. The Saints just couldn’t get any flow, any cohesion, and grunt out of the middle and anything resembling a contribution from their key forwards. It was a dreadful performance.

Hinkley was quick to point out that the Power are just half a game off a double chance. They can only get better and their next four games are all winnable. But a repeat of the clash with the Saints will have them finishing with the brumbies. In the meantime, the Port Adelaide soap opera is sure to keep running, the battlelines will continue to be drawn, and the various personalities on the fringes will continue to bicker, to backtrack, to speak in circles and to make it all about them.

Their coach, to his eternal credit, never sinks to that level. Beleaguered coaches are often the last to throw in the towel. But he’s not blind or deaf. “I’ve been brought up a fighter, so that’s what I’ll do,” Hinkley said this week. And as always, he poo-pooed the politics and the placards demanding his removal, and instead focused on his players. He spoke like a man who knows he has the support of his team, who knows they’re capable of much better, and who’ll never give up, but who can read which way the wind is blowing.