PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley says the Power was beaten by a better side in Saturday’s heartbreaking Showdown loss to Adelaide, but he was critical of a controversial score review which saw a match-winning goal paid to Crows forward Josh Jenkins.
The Power trailed after conceding the first three goals, but was cleaner and more polished from that point and led by ten points heading into time on in the last quarter.
Vice-captain Ollie Wines marked strongly but put a set shot out on the full before goals to Eddie Betts and Jenkins, the latter after the umpires questioned whether the ball had hit the post, saw the Crows claim a three-point win.
"Let me be really clear right from the start, Adelaide deserved to win, they were the better team in a really close game," Hinkley said in his post-game press conference.
"Both teams going at it, they had a number of more entries, more contested possession, we had a chance to put them away but we didn't.
"But to deal with that last moment, where the player acknowledges it's hit the post and the AFL, in a billion-dollar industry, can wreck seasons for football clubs that work too hard.
“If I was the AFL, I'd be embarrassed and disappointed in an industry that's so important to so many people.
"I will say again, the Adelaide Crows were the better team on the night and deserved to win."
Hinkley was pragmatic about the result, suggesting Wines knew he’d missed a key opportunity to almost seal the result.
He heaped praise on Adelaide’s midfield for winning the contested battle, which he said he had identified as key to the outcome.
But when questioned about whether he’d ask the AFL to explain the controversial finish, he didn’t hold back.
“What for? What are they going to say?
“They’ve got no consequence. They’ll come out and say they got it wrong, but the technology should make sure that this monumental mistake in a football season shouldn’t have appeared.
“It was a great game of footy but there was a major failure by the AFL tonight.”
The score review decision was made more controversial by Jenkins admitting in a post-game television interview that he thought it had hit the post.
Hinkley said Jenkins had played a brilliant game, especially to
But he called for the score review technology to be improved.
“The amount of time being spent on rule changes… there should be a lot more time spent on moments that are significant to outcomes and can put a season like ours, and I don’t want to be seen as a sore loser, but in an industry that’s about getting it right, we didn’t get it right,” Hinkley said.
“The score review is there to make sure this doesn’t happen and it continues to fail – someone should be accountable for that.
“I’m accountable for winning and losing, someone should be accountable for that happening.”
Port Adelaide forward Robbie Gray claimed a record fourth Showdown Medal after booting four goals and having 20 disposals including 12 contested.
He was booed as he received the medal, and while Hinkley didn’t want to comment on the response, he said while he would usually think a player from the winning team would win it, Gray was a worthy winner after his performance.
The Power coach heaped praise on rookie defender Dan Houston for his strong showing across half-back, as well as singling out second-gamer Kane Farrell for his three-goal first quarter.
Hinkley said his side’s top four chances are alive but he stressed he wasn’t worried where his team sat on the ladder today, and would instead be focused on where it finished the season in three weeks time.
“It was a cracking game of football, it was a marginal game,” he said.
“We’ve won one by a small margin this year and we’ve lost one by a small margin.
“We’ve played well enough to deserve to be where we are and we can still make a fair bit out of this season and I think the season is so alive for so many teams… anything could happen.”
