KEN HINKLEY will continue to demand “hard, aggressive football” from his Port Adelaide unit, despite Tom Jonas being suspended for six matches during the week.
Jonas insisted his hit on West Coast’s Andrew Gaff last weekend was clumsy and careless rather than intentional, but he was rubbed out for six games nonetheless.
The Power flew to Alice Springs on Friday to take on Melbourne this weekend with the coach adamant discipline wasn’t a problem at Alberton Oval.
Hinkley said there was no confusion within the group as to what was and wasn’t acceptable on the field.
“That’s what we’ve always wanted, there’s no problem there,” Hinkley said.
“We’ve always wanted to play hard, aggressive football … but there is a line and if you step over it you get in trouble - Tommy was the first to acknowledge this week that he stepped well over the line and he’ll do his time.
“I don’t think you need to educate people on obvious things and everyone saw the incident last week and everyone knew it was wrong, so I think that’s pretty simple.
“Overall we’ve been a pretty disciplined football club, but it is an aggressive game you play and you do get pretty close to the line sometimes.”
Young ruckman Dougal Howard was the Power’s only inclusion, with the 20-year-old set to play his third senior game.
His return will offer some reprieve to a sore Jackson Trengove, who’s shouldered the ruck burden commendably for the past three games.
Trengove rolled his ankle last week and Hinkley said the Power were mindful of not pushing him too hard.
“We’re going to get some support in the ruck - there’s no doubt about that,” Hinkley said.
“We’ll still share it around a little bit.
“[Trengove’s] quite open to having the opportunity to play in the ruck and likes the combative side of the game, so it suits him a little bit, but we are mindful, that you do that to someone who’s undersized for a long period of time, it must take a toll.”
Hinkley anticipated a contested game in Alice Springs, singling out Melbourne’s big-bodied midfield brigade as one of the club’s strengths.
But he said the Power’s past two appearances at the ground, which resulted in two wins, would offer them genuine confidence.
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