Ken Hinkley addresses his side at the half time break. Image: AFL Photos.
PORT ADELAIDE knows what it will take to break a three-game losing streak – and senior coach Ken Hinkley knows by results earlier this season that his players can deliver to a proven winning theme.
“What we do well works … but at the moment it is not being done well and that is why it is not working,” Hinkley said at Alberton on Friday morning while preparations for Sunday’s away clash with St Kilda continued.
And Hinkley is not doubting the resolve of his players to rediscover the form that earlier in the season had them rated as a top-four contender.
“They have great belief in what they are capable of,” Hinkley said of his players. “The challenge they have right now is getting that belief to become (seen in their) action.
“They are a confident group.
“We do have confidence that if we get back (to playing our game) well, we are a very capable side. The early part of the season suggests that. The past three weeks don’t, however.”
Port Adelaide enters this round 16 clash at the Docklands aiming to advance its win-loss count to 9-6, with the potential to return to the top four on an AFL table that has positions from second to 13th possibly resembling a snakes-and-ladders game.
Port Adelaide and St Kilda meet for the second time this season, two months after the Anzac round clash ended with a 10-point win for Ken Hinkley’s team at Adelaide Oval. The past four clashes have ended in Port Adelaide wins by 10, seven, one and 13 points.
Final team selection will be confirmed late on Friday with Hinkley already confirming a new face will be among the match-day 23 but specialist forward Willie Rioli will remain absent by illness rather than a calf injury.
DEBUT TWO: A week after introducing its first new face of the season – with defender Logan Evans – the second follows immediately with Will Lorenz.
The 19-year-old midfielder, who can work also across half-forward to deal with St Kilda’s defensive clamp, rises to the AFL after being the No.57 pick in the national draft in November. He carries on his family traditions in Australian football by following his grandfather, Hawthorn 1961 premiership captain Graham Arthur, to VFL-AFL ranks.
Hinkley told Lorenz of his rise to the seniors on Friday morning.
“We bring another young player into the side with confidence because he has done the work,” Hinkley said. “And we look forward to the excitement Logan and Will can bring.
“Will has played really well in a team that has had to battle hard at SANFL level. He has been clearly one of the best two or three every week. He has earned his right.
“He has worked really hard after being a late-50s pick. He is a left footer. He is a really good decision maker in traffic. He can hit the scoreboard when he gets his chance. He will find out that this is a new test; it is a whole new level when you step up from SANFL to AFL. We saw Logan do it last week pretty comfortably.”
INTENSE SCRUTINY: Club, coach and players all have fallen into the AFL’s weekly cycle of “team under the spotlight”.
As a coach, Hinkley insists his approach has not changed this week.
“Nothing has changed – I have come to work to do my absolute best to help us get back on track,” Hinkley said. “Every team – bar Sydney – at some point this season has not played anywhere near what they would like to. It is currently our turn – and we have to turn that around quickly.
“All my energy has been spent in trying to turn this around really quickly.
“I have been brought up as a fighter … and that is what I will do.”
As players, Hinkley notes his group has kept its focus amid intense “white noise” while being the topic of the week in a game of constant external analysis.
“They are professionals; they know what they are here to do – to play football and the coaches are here to make them better,” Hinkley said.
“We do our absolute best to block the outside noise; sometimes that is impossible.
“But we are really calm about what we need to do. We just have to get about doing it.”
As a club, Hinkley added: “We know how to handle things internally.
“All we think about is winning. We don’t consider a loss. We are about doing everything right, do it as well as you can do it and we will win this game.”
INTERNAL RESPONSE: After not delivering a response on the field against Brisbane on Saturday, the player group has worked to the right themes and approach this week.
“They always challenge themselves,” Hinkley said. “You don’t hide in an AFL environment. We review every week, win, lose or draw. You get challenged every week to get better.
“Consistently we have been able to win lots of games of footy. We turn up more often than not. We give ourselves a chance. But we have not in the past three weeks (with the last term against Carlton and losses to Greater Western Sydney and Brisbane).”
Port Adelaide will be looking to find their pre-bye form after losing three consecutive matches. Image: AFL Photos.
KEY THEME: While the loss to Brisbane exposed Port Adelaide to many review points, the key focus remains on the long-standing barometer of contested football.
“There was much to focus on when we were beaten badly in all areas, but overall we know the contest stuff is where our game starts and stops,” Hinkley said. “If we can get our contest stuff at a really good level, that gives us the chance to play the game we prefer to play.”
OPPO WATCH: St Kilda – or more to the point senior coach Ross Lyon – delivers the challenge of overcoming a strong defensive system. This points greater focus on the recent reviews of the Port Adelaide attack, both in loading up the forwards and their finishing.
“They are always hard games against Ross,” Hinkley said. “Always. They are always difficult games against a Ross-coached team. They have a strong record at Marvel Stadium (162 wins in 297 matches). Last time we played it was a pretty close game … we are not expecting any different than a real fight. But we expect that every week in the AFL.
Port Adelaide will play St Kilda for the second time in 2024, following a win in Round 7. Image: AFL Photos.
“We expected it last week and did not deliver. We have to deliver.
“Every game tests us (to put a winning score on the final result). It is not a one-week thing. Consistency is an issue for us in all parts of the game for the past three weeks – not just what is happening in front of the ball.”
INJURY COUNT: Defender Esava Ratugolea will have his timeline out of the game determined after medical advice on the scans taken of his injured hamstring on Thursday.
“He has a soft, minor hamstring issue,” Hinkley said. “It should be relatively short term (on the injury list).”