In the second of our two-part interview with Ken Hinkley, portadelaidefc.com.au's Matthew Agius delves into the football side of things for Port Adelaide's 2014 campaign...

READ PART ONE THANKS TO ENVESTRA

Matthew Agius: Let’s talk footy now. The club turned heads last year with its ability to come from behind, arguably snatching impossible victory from the jaws of defeat on occasion. Do you worry that your opposition have worked Port Adelaide out after seeing what it can do last year? How do you evolve again for 2014?

Ken Hinkley: We love exciting wins and we’d love to deliver a few more of them this year, but we’d love to not come from behind. I think we should all understand this group is a really strong group of committed runners that wants to work hard - they can cause sides a lot of problems. It all comes back to the mantra we want to play with - We Will Never, Ever Give Up - and that’s the way we’re going to play. We’d like to get in front and start strongly, but we also remember that AFL footy is so tough and there are going to be dips and troughs. What we know is that if our behaviours are the same, and our players have the same high work rate as one another, then we’re going to be in games right up until the final siren. Sides will understand that Port Adelaide is going to run - run hard from the first minute of the game and be running just as hard at the final minute. We’re going to challenge teams to run with us and come and try and compete with the way we’re going to try and play. We think we’ll hold ourselves in pretty good stead.

MA: Do you see this season coming up as being tough, or the fixture as being particularly tough? Or do you simply expect and accept it to be difficult irrespective of the way the program falls?

KH: It’s a brutal competition we play in. It’s going to be tough every year. I think people sometimes look at the fixture and say ‘Gee it’s going to be a tough draw,’ well it’s a tough draw every year, and it’s going to be tough even before you take injuries for either us or our opposition into account. All I say about it is that this year we get to play sides who are a bit higher up the ladder on last year’s form more often and that can only be good for us. We know the competition is better and we must improve ourselves and make ourselves a better team, and the opportunity to play good teams makes you better. We need to control our effort and energy in every game.

MA: The Power played two finals last year with one emphatic result against Collingwood that the wider punditry didn’t seem to expect and then leading against Geelong until half time and falling behind only to come back to within a whisker late in the game. What did lessons did you take out of the finals, for a club that wants to keep playing in them?

KH: You know when you compete in finals that you’ve got to compete in them for four quarters as a football club. Last year we were 'consistently inconsistent' as far as four quarters of a football game is concerned. We know in AFL finals that you can’t have that level of inconsistency. Against Collingwood we played really good footy for four quarters, against Geelong we played two good quarters against a side that’s capable of taking it to you really aggressively, but then we had a poor period in the back half of that third quarter, before finishing strong. Finishing strong doesn’t cut it. A swing against you can only be allowed to go against you for maybe two or three minutes, not the 20 minutes we allowed in the semi final against Geelong.

MA: You’ve got experience as a coach, a player and a leader of many different teams, so in your experience does becoming 'consistently consistent' come down to maturing as a playing group? Or is it perhaps a fitness or behaviours aspect? What is it that is the secret ingredient for becoming that consistent side you want?

KH: I think you’ve summed it all up. Many things need to come together to become that consistent side. After a significant time spent together those things come together to make you consistent - there’s no secret ingredient. Sometimes it's the maturity of the individual within the team, sometimes the team as a whole as a result of playing together for a long period of time - sides like the great Geelong team or Hawthorn team. When you look at those groups, they’ve been together for years and have got the best of of each other. Sometimes you can have a really good group and not get the best out of them. We’ve got some things to work on before we can be an elite AFL side, but we do know what some of the factors that contribute to that are and consistency and maturity are two important ones.

MA: You came into the club with some knowledge of the history and significance of the Magpies in the SANFL. The restructure of Port Adelaide’s football program is, some would say, vital for the culture of the football club inside and out, but also from a football operational perspective it will create an even playing field throughout the league. How have you seen that restructure take effect and what benefit has it brought to the club in its early stages?

KH: The first thing I want to say is that, for the first time in 12 months, it feels like it’s the first time since Port came into the AFL that the actual club has come together as one. I’ve only been here a year, but when I talk to people I can hear it in their words and see it in their faces. All our supporters feel we're Port Adelaide and whether we’re playing at AFL or SANFL we are Port Adelaide and we support Port Adelaide.

It’s not supporting Port - the Magpies, or Port - the Power; we all, simply, support Port Adelaide. That’s Port Adelaide - the community,  and the idea of what our club is and what it stands for. Whether it be with Buddha and the Magpies or me and the Power, we understand Port Adelaide is here to compete and win.

I sensed when I arrived that there was a separation but now that every single thing about the club’s operations is on the same page, I feel like everyone is on board with us and what we want to achieve - be it on the national stage in the AFL or the local stage in the SANFL.

The advantages for an AFL program are there to see - we’ve got it with Geelong and their VFL side and, slightly differently, Hawthorn with their alignment to Box Hill Hawks. They are two clubs that have generated success at AFL level, but most importantly they’ve done it at VFL level as well - which means their whole club is successful, not just the AFL branch. I think it’s really important for people to understand the Port Adelaide Football Club becomes successful at both levels because of the football structure we’ve now put together and it keeps us in good stead for the long term of the club.

MA: So you would say to those people who suggest the Magpies only exist to develop footballers and that winning is no longer the priority, that an unsuccessful Magpies would be to the detriment of the club as a whole?

KH: Well it’s a detriment to what Port Adelaide people expect, and as Port Adelaide people we expect the Magpies to play well and win. We expect the Power to play well and win too. We expect this club to work for its community and its people and that they go out there each week and give them something to be proud of. Whether that’s the Magpies or the Power we expect them - whether they live in or come from our Port heartland or outside of it - to be proud of us, because we play for them and we play for what they want.

MA: Footy starts this week and runs every week through until the end of, hopefully, September. What has to happen now until Round 1 for the season to go to your plan?

KH: You need a little bit of luck still. I don’t care what people say, there is an element of luck that goes towards any successful season. You need a healthy list, and we’ve had Jacko with an injury - but we’ve dodged a major issue with him. We’ll always have injuries that we don’t want to have, obviously we want to have a fit and healthy list right through the season to give us the best chance possible. The more players you have available, the more pressure there is for spots and the greater the chances are of having success. Then we need to bring the level of effort that is required to achieve the result.

I haven't seen any slip up in our effort and hard attack on training and we now need to take that into our games. Effectively we have just three weekends off this season and that’s a mentally tough challenge for everyone in our club. There will be momentum swings - we need to limit them and the negative impact they can have - and we need to harness the positive ones. Any time we’re in a situation where we’re going to lose games - and we will because the system we play in says you do - we limit how many are lost, and how they’re lost.

We want to leave our games proud of what we did and committed to doing the right thing over and over.

MA: Is it fair to say the 'We Exist To Win Premierships' mantra of Port Adelaide is as relevant to you, this playing group and this football department as it has ever been for the football club?

KH: We’re all involved in football to win premierships and there’s no doubt those of us who are here now are the same. But we know winning premierships is the result of what you put in. We have just got to control what we can control and if we can do that, we’ll have the best chance at getting what we all want. I said it last year and I’ll say it again, you get what you deserve in this game. If you continually turn up for every week, bar three weekends, for the next seven months, you’ll get that opportunity to compete for a premiership, and if you don’t, you won’t.

MA: I'm sure most, if not all of our supporters will be happy to hear that. Finally Ken, what would you say Port Adelaide supporters can expect to see from the club in 2014?

KH: You can expect we’ll turn up. That’s what I want, and that’s what the players want. Our job as coaches is to make sure we turn up, and the players’ job is to make sure they go out there and get the job done. What does ‘turn up’ mean? It means we will bring effort and competitiveness. When we run out to play, you know it’s going to be on. That we will play the Port Adelaide way and that this group of players will give you what they’ve got. I reckon when you can go out to support a team who you know they’re going to win some games, lose some games, but whose desire is to give everything they have for the love of their footy club, that’s a really special thing. That’s what the Port Adelaide Football Club will do.