Finals still the dream for Power under Hinkley

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Finals still the dream for Power under Hinkley

Knowing they are coming from a long way back, Port Adelaide have renewed belief they can right their season and make a run at finals.

The 14th-placed Power have improved their record to 5-7 and sit eight points outside the finals places after snapping a four-game losing run in Saturday night’s gritty 16-point win over GWS.

The defiant performance at Canberra’s Manuka Oval, where Zak Butters and skipper Connor Rozee stood tall, appeared fuelled by pressure on outgoing coach Ken Hinkley.

Hinkley, in his 13th and final year as Power coach, will hand over to long-time assistant Josh Carr at season’s end, but has made it clear he won’t step down early.

When asked if finals were still Port’s dream, Hinkley said: “Yeah, why wouldn’t they be?

“Yeah, we’re of the belief that we have to do a lot of things right, clearly. We’ve put ourselves in an awkward position.

“But look, all we can do is turn up next week and make sure we give the best account of ourselves and try and get another win.

“Who knows where the journey takes you, but all I know is that in the past we’ve been able to get on decent runs, we’ve been able to win lots of games of footy in a row.

“We’re going to live in the space that we believe in ourselves.”

When asked about Port’s bye ahead of the Giants match, Hinkley had quipped to Fox Sports: “I got a decent break coming, so I didn’t need too much.”

In his press conference, Hinkley indicated he expected pressure on his position to continue throughout the season.

“But what I do know tonight is that helps us get back on track where we want to be,” he said.

“Clearly we’re a long way off where we thought we would be and need to be.

“But at least we feel like we maybe snuck our head around the corner just a little bit just to have a look and see what’s next and we’ve got a big game next week back at Adelaide.”

The Power host Melbourne at Adelaide Oval next Sunday, before hosting Sydney, then Carlton.

Hinkley had “no idea” whether the match review officer would look at a first-quarter collision between Power dasher Kane Farrell and GWS’ Leek Aleer.

The Giants defender had a head injury assessment but passed it and played out the game.

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