AFL 360 co-host Mark Robinson believes Port Adelaide president David Koch “made an error of judgment” with recent comments about the club’s football department.
Koch told FIVEaa 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.
Senior coach Ken Hinkley is contracted until 2023, but a question mark remains over whether he’ll continue in the role, despite Hinkley himself at this stage still expecting to be there next year.
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Koch’s comment, “turn it around or watch out”, drew criticism from Robinson.
“David Koch has been a tremendous president but he made an error of judgment in my opinion by saying what he said,” Robinson posed.
“I don’t think he gets football in the sense where if he knew this was going to be the fallout – that every media organization in Australia is going to be looking at it saying ‘are you going to get rid of him or not’ – that’s not how to treat a guy who has been there for 10 years.
“Just hold the horses a little bit. I think that’s been the fallout from this.”
Robinson labeled the comments “footy-naive”, but added they should not be misinterpreted as a call for prospective coaches to make their intentions known.
“What Koch said yesterday was not an open invitation for Alastair Clarkson’s people to ring the club,” he said.
“I know that’s been floating around … but that’s not my information.”
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