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Ken Hinkley will coach Port Adelaide in 2023 says David Koch, Power contract

Port Adelaide president David Koch has emphatically declared Ken Hinkley will see out his current contract and coach the club in 2023.

A question mark had been hovering over Hinkley and his position at the Power, despite being contracted to the club until next year and his defiant AFL 360 interview on Monday night where he said he expected to be at Alberton next year.

Amid mounting criticism over Hinkley’s coaching from fans, Koch said earlier this week “every single person’s role” would be assessed at the end of the season, which has seen the Power drop out of finals contention after back-to-back preliminary final runs.

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Koch spoke on 5AA radio on Monday and conceded the club was “not afraid to make change.” His comment from him, “turn it around or watch out”, fueled speculation there could be sweeping changes to the club’s football department.

But Koch confirmed to 7 News Adelaide on Thursday night Hinkley would remain at Alberton.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley with Chairman David Koch.Source: Twitter

“Obviously, for all of us, this season has been a major disappointment … (and) as we always do, we’ll thoroughly assess our football program at season’s end,” Koch told 7 News Adelaide.

“But, as the club has maintained all year, Ken Hinkley is contracted and will be our coach in 2023

“Prior to this season, Ken led us to two consecutive preliminary finals.

“Some will argue we should make a change based on our performance this season alone and that Ken has never taken the team to a grand finale.

“But we base decisions on all the information in front of us.

“We believe Ken gives us the best chance of successfully rebounding next season, of successfully attracting new talent and football department resources to make us better.”

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Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Thursday night, St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt said it was a “big backflip” from Koch that should never have happened.

“I like it from the point of view that it provides fodder for all of us to talk about, but Ken Hinkley must get to the end of the week and think: ‘What did I just go and endure – and for what?’” a passionate Riewoldt said on AFL 360.

“So Kochie comes out on Monday saying what he said after the CEO, the footy manager, everyone else in the club has been on the same page – and five days later he backflips on the statement? He could’ve said on Monday what he said tonight, but he chose not to – and by omission, he put Ken Hinkley under ridiculous, undue pressure this week. It was really poor.

“I think Ken’s probably got a reasonable tolerance for it now after all of this time, but I’d be scratching my head.”

Hinkley is Port’s second longest serving coach, behind the club’s sole AFL premiership coach in Mark Williams.

In his 10 seasons in charge, Hinkley has steered the Power to finals in four seasons and has a 60.8 per cent win rate from his 212 games as coach.

When asked directly on AFL 360 if he felt any uncertainty as coach after Koch’s “turn it around or watch out” comments, Hinkley replied: “No, no I don’t”.

Koch statement awkward for Hinkley? | 01:36

“David (Koch) himself has said that he expects me to be coaching Port Adelaide in 2023, as I do and that’s what I am preparing for,” he said.

“I think I’ve been given enough assurances (he’ll see out his deal) through the season, not that I needed them to be fair.

“We all get there’s a finish line for everyone at some point.

“But as I sit here tonight, I’m more than confident that that won’t be at the end of 2022.”

Hinkley said despite the outside pressure, his players “100 per cent” continued to back him in for an 11th season in 2023 – and final year of his current contract — saying:

“My players, they play for me every week. They play for us every week.

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GWS Giants caretaker coach Mark McVeigh post-match press conference, rivals urged to take advantage, trade news, rumors, whispers, reactions, response, commentary, latest

Giants caretaker coach Mark McVeigh’s brutally honest assessment that his players “checked out” in the club’s 73-point Sydney derby loss have raised the eyebrows of pundits including a call for rivals to leverage the situation to try and raid his talent.

McVeigh didn’t hold back in his assessment of his team’s post-match performance, labeling it “embarrassing,” and even saying only eight players “went to the wall” and that the club has “got to shift the standards.”

It comes as several stars including Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper face uncertain futures at Western Sydney and have been linked to trade talks.

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And former Melbourne skipper Garry Lyon believes rivals should look to take advantage of McVeigh’s post-match comments in their bid to lure players out of the club.

“In the ruthless industry that we’re in, those comments for me also give Richmond, just for example, if you were interested in Tom Green before the weekend and those comments, then now you are going as hard as you possibly could – or Taranto or Hopper for that matter,” he said on SEN Breakfast.

“Whoever the teams are that are interested in them, you’re going ‘righto, this is where they see you, and here’s your opportunity’.”

Several Giants including Hopper and Taranto have been linked to trades (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTS

It comes after St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt feared McVeigh’s comments could cost the caretaker coach a full-time gig in 2023.

The Giants have now fallen to 3-7 under McVeigh since he took over from Leon Cameron in Round 10 including dropping their last four consecutive games to slide to 16th on the ladder.

And speaking on McVeigh’s bold statements on Fox Footy’s First CrackRoos legend David King questioned whether an interim boss was in a position to launch such a scathing assessment.

“They’re huge statements, and this is a bit of an awkward situation, it’s a caretaker coach. I know he’s been (in charge) for 10 weeks and there’s some frustration there … but I’m not convinced that a caretaker coach can make those sorts of grand statements,” King said.

“I’m not sure he can question the standards of your football club and (say) that they’ve got to shift, he can name only eight players and isolate the rest.

“(Saying), ‘We’ve going to find players who want to fight it out,’ I’m comfortable with that, of course, that’s the gig. But questioning whether players have checked out — they’re pretty bold statements and sweeping statements that go across a club.

“Gee whiz, I wonder whether the footy manager would grab him and say, ‘hey, listen, (saying we) embarrassed the club’s a bit strong. We’ve still got three weeks to finish off here. We still need a positive environment, we still need to challenge everyone to get better, absolutely.’

“But saying, ‘we’ve got to shift the standards of our football club’ is a poor reflection on the total club, not just not just the representation on field for that two hours.”

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Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna believes isolating the performances of eight players was the most damning, saying it “threw the other 14 under the bus”.

“The eight he mentioned were the leaders including Lachie Whitfield and Josh Kelly, who I didn’t think they had a huge influence,” Montagna said.

“Basically he’s throwing all the kids under the bus — James Peatling, Jacob Wehr, Leek Aleer, Xavier O’Halloran, Lachie Ash and Tom Green. They’re all still trying to find themselves as players.

“To not include them almost saying, ‘well, they didn’t go to the well for the team,’ I thought was a bit unfair. Start with the leaders, they need to change the culture of the footy club. He did mention a few of the younger ones who are coming up, Sam Taylor and Harry Perryman, but I think it needs to start right at the top.”

The Giants are 3-7 under McVeigh (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)Source: FOX SPORTS

Former St Kilda and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon also wasn’t a fan of McVeigh’s post-match criticism.

“Instinctively I didn’t like it at all, because you’re individualizing the ones who did and the ones that didn’t, and you’re distancing yourself,” he said on Triple M.

“I think there’s conversations you have behind closed doors. I didn’t like it at all… there’s three rounds to go, there’s things you often want to say as the senior coach, but you can be too honest.

“You can’t do that to your playing group… you lose them straight away. What’s the reason they’re like that? Your job is then to dive in and try and get to that and turn it around. I don’t know how that’s being achieved by saying it publicly.

“At the end of the day you’ve taken the reins, it can’t be all care and no responsibility. When you put your hand up to take the chair you can’t separate yourself.

“He’s a really strong character and really well respected, but just saying it doesn’t mean things are going to.

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