Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley conceded his team lost a chance to “put a gap” on the chasing pack and put the acid on Jason Horne-Francis to “be better” when it mattered as a top-four spot went begging in Sunday’s loss to the Gold Coast.
Lamenting the loss of key forward Todd Marshall, who will need scans to determine the extent of a hip injury suffered when he got tangled with teammate Charlie Dickson, Hinkley said his team was a “little bit off” as they slipped into a congested pack of top-four hopefuls.
While the loss of Marshall and Lachie Jones, to concussion, proved problematic for Port, Hinkley said the defeat “keeps building the pressure” that makes every match, firstly next week’s clash with battlers Richmond, crucial in the bid to not make the top four, but make the eight.
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“The competition is incredibly even, I’m not sure what’s going to happen for the remaining six games of the season. You are going to have to win games that are really important,” he said.
“When you get your opportunity to get a gap you have to take it, we didn’t take that today.
“We’re really looking in the moment right now because we can’t afford to go past it.
“It (the ladder congestion) keeps building the pressure you need to perform under each week. We’re deep in it; it’s just a matter of who’s going to be able to break through.”
Asked about the performance of Horne-Francis, who didn’t touch the ball in the first quarter, gave away four free kicks, including a 50m penalty early in the second that led to a Sam Flanders goal, and finished with just nine disposals playing forward for most of the second-half, Hinkley was blunt.
“Jason is a young player and he’s learning all the time and he’s got to be better than he was today in some moments, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“We won’t accept that it is OK. He’s learned a lot but he still has a lot more to learn and that’s clear when you’ve got a young player who is developing, he’s an aggressive player who seeks out body contact and once the oppo get a look at it they tend to come after you a little bit more.
“Jason is learning to deal with that, and he has to get better.”
Hinkley said Jones would miss at least one game after suffering a concussion but the Marshall injury was not as clear cut.
“Charlie really landed on top of his leg and really jammed his hip down which he has had history with over the last couple of years, we will have to wait and scan that. It looks like he has hurt him a little bit,” he said.
“I’ve been around a long time and seen lots of strange things happen on the footy field and that’s another one to add to the collection.
“Ultimately, we paid a big price and when you play up here in the conditions, having a few numbers down, particularly in front of the ball for us, certainly hurts us.”