PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has backed in the strongest possible terms the decision during Thursday night’s narrow loss to Richmond to allow captain Tom Jonas and midfielder Zak Butters to return to the field after they clashed heads, leaving both bloodied.
The pair collided in the last quarter with the game on the line, and each spent considerable time off the ground being patched up with Jonas having a cut right eyelid and Butters requiring stitches for a cheek laceration.
Port Adelaide ended up going down 11.11 (77) to 10.5 (65) at the MCG and some commentators questioned whether the duo should have been subjected to the AFL’s concussion protocols, which would have required them to spend at least 15 minutes off the ground.
Hinkley backed club doctor Mark Fisher’s assessment of Jonas and Butters in his post-match press conference.
“If they needed a concussion test they’d have to (have one),” he explained.
“People get cuts in games of football and they don’t get concussion. In that circumstance, I’ve got a doctor who has been with our football club for 25 years. The conversation between our doctor and our football manager during the game was these boys have got no issue with concussion.
“So, if anyone’s got a challenge on that and they feel more qualified than Mark Fischer, who is a 25-year AFL doctor, feel free but I think you’ll want to be really sure that you’re not trying to umpire or make some calls from outside the fence when you have no knowledge.
“We’ve got a very experienced doctor who has the utmost respect in the AFL.”
Hinkley was repeatedly asked whether the concussion test would have been done had it been earlier in the game, but the veteran coach remained steadfast that the matter was handled properly.
“I trust the people who are running that part of our organisation in those facets of the game. There’s an injury, there was a head clash, both boys were split open, both boys were bleeding.
“They got patched up. I spoke to both boys in the rooms after the game and they weren’t lying down, they weren’t fainting or doing anything silly.
“They were talking to me clearly - ‘oh mate, I’m going to have a big black eye but I’m pretty good’. Both boys are ok.
“They’re tough players. We shouldn’t forget that. That’s a hit for those who don’t think the game is tough. That’s a hit.”
The loss leaves Port with five wins and seven losses, having clawed its way back into finals contention after opening the season with five straight defeats.
The Power had booted the opening two goals of the contest before the Tigers nailed the next six to open up a 26-point advantage in the second quarter.
A spirited fight back – including three goals to young forward Todd Marshall - saw the visiting side edge in front with the first goal of the last term.
Hinkley was left to lament his side’s inability to retain the ball in the first-quarter and make the most of its forward entries.
“It was a tough contest all night,” he said. “Both teams went blow for blow for a good period of time and Richmond were good enough to finish with a couple of big blows that put us out of the game.
“We took the lead, we worked really hard to get into that position and we just couldn’t hang on for long enough.
“Turnovers killed us in the first quarter. It’s probably what won them the game. We worked so hard to get back but we gave up five goals from turnover in the first quarter and we gave up goals through the corridor, which is not like us.
“If you look at the rest of the game we defended really really strongly but for that patch of the first quarter when they were able to put us to the sword on the scoreboard, that’s what happened – the turnover.
“And that was as much our doing as anything Richmond did. We gave the ball back in bad spots.”
Port went into the contest having omitted ruckman Sam Hayes, leaving forwards Jeremy Finlayson and Charlie Dixon to shoulder the load.
While the club lost the hit-outs 41-18, its midfield was able to get its hands on the ball and win the clearances 38-31.
Hinkley said Hayes would look to find form in the SANFL against Central District this weekend and mid-season recruit Brynn Teakle would also get a chance to impress in his first game for the club, and he gave both a chance to feature against Sydney on Saturday week.
“Our preference is to not to have to play all the time as Jeremy and Charlie as ruckmen,” Hinkley said.
“(Despite that) we’re really pleased with the end result. We ended up winning clearance so it’s a pretty good performance by our midfield group collectively because we got beaten in hit-outs, which we knew that was going to be on the cards for us so we managed that really well I thought.
“It showed we got some other parts of our game with some more support by doing the move we did with our rucks tonight.”
To compound the loss, which keeps Port Adelaide 12th on the ladder, two wins behind Richmond which snuck into the top eight, wingman Trent Dumont was forced from the field with a strained calf in the third quarter. Hinkley said the extent of the injury would not be known for a few days but the North Melbourne recruit would not feature against Sydney on Saturday week.
Hinkley said his players would get back to work, remaining determined to give themselves the best chance of playing finals football.
“We’ve done a great job of staying in the moment when we were in a really bad position. We’ve worked our way back,” he said of his side’s 0-5 start to the campaign.
“We won’t get distracted by the loss tonight. We’ll take some confidence out of some of the things we did tonight. We’ll learn some stuff from what we didn’t do and we’ll make sure we’re ready to play next week and we’ll give ourself a great chance to win next week.
“That’s what we do every week – regardless of the ladder because I always say this: wait until the end of the year and see where it all ends up.
“It’ll be what it’ll be and we’ll get what we deserve. We’ll either be there or we won’t but we’re not going to make those calls tonight. We’re sticking in the moment and the next round is Sydney.”
