This article originally appeared on afl.com.au

KEN HINKLEY is nearly back in ball handling drills.

If he was still a player, Hinkley's off-season would be described as 'interrupted' after the Port Adelaide coach had surgery that saw his right wrist fused. Recently out of a hand brace, the operation to correct a lingering issue hasn't had an impact on his preparations for what looms as a key year for Hinkley and the Power (albeit he's shaking hands on his left side). 

Hinkley is still as metaphorically hands on as he has been: in match simulation drills he stands on the ground observing what is happening, occasionally pulling aside a player for a bit of quick advice. Around the club he stops players regularly for – sometimes brief and sometimes longer – chats about how they're going and what's next.

In coaches' basketball games at the Power, Hinkley is the courtside referee, patrolling the lines and making big calls, all while keeping the score even. He chairs the coaching meetings, leads the direction of training and is the cultural figurehead of the club. He remains as driven and as connected to his players as ever, perhaps his central trait.

"I got asked if there's still room for a spray in football. Everyone's fascinated by how much abuse you want to put at your players. But the reality is if you don't come from a place of care, that's the major change in the coaching game now compared to 20 years ago to 10 years ago to today," Hinkley told AFL.com.au.

"The levels of care are at an all-time high and we're always mindful of the pressures and mental health situation and we really care for our players well. If you know them well, and you need to know them well, then you know how they respond to different scenarios. What I find is they're all quite individual now and if you don't know them all individually well, there's a risk.

"You can spend as much time as you want with X's and O's but the reality is you need to know how they tick. And I think it's really important they have as much care for you as you do for them. If that happens I reckon you've got a chance to be successful together."

Hinkley is an optimist. He is also a realist. You can be both. He understands a focus will be on him this year, as he enters the 11th season in charge at Port Adelaide and the last of his current contract. After back-to-back preliminary finals in 2020-21, when the Power won the most combined games of any club, they fell to 11th position last year. A strong off-season of recruiting, where the Power landed Jason Horne-Francis and Junior Rioli, has bolstered the list and heightened some hopes. Expect Port to play quick and hard.

"Everyone wants to play faster and quicker, it's just about being able to execute faster and quicker," Hinkley said.

"We're certainly working really hard on the three phases of the game but the critical piece is everyone is turning turnover into a bit more of a dynamic approach. That's what the competition will do. I think we've always played quite an aggressive brand, we just need to be able to put aggression together with stability."

Port had patches of form last season but was always behind the eight-ball after its 0-5 start. Hinkley sensed a lingering emotional toll from the previous year's preliminary final smashing at the hands of the Western Bulldogs but, more than that, felt their round one loss to Brisbane at the Gabba in tough conditions was the catalyst for a slump.

"We were nearly three goals up at three-quarter time against a really hard opponent but we got decimated by freak injuries. Aliir (Aliir) does a syndesmosis, (Xavier) Duursma does a joint in his shoulder, (Connor) Rozee's played day one after COVID, Robbie (Gray) does his medial ligament, Trent McKenzie buckles a knee we thought was an ACL all in the one game," he said.

"Everyone wants to go back to the preliminary final, but I think that game more than anything really whacked us."

Port is now looking to whack back. No.1 pick Horne-Francis' addition to their midfield, already including All-Australian Connor Rozee, Brownlow medallist Ollie Wines and emerging star Zak Butters, excites Hinkley.

"[Horne-Francis] had the interruption of the serious surgery on both legs, which is a pretty big issue to overcome for any player, let alone a 19-year-old who has made a decision to leave a Melbourne club to come back to his home state as the No.1 draft pick," he said.

"There's enough things going on in Jason's world that would suggest that might be a little bit of a challenge for him at some stage. That's not what I see. I see an attitude to quickly be as good as he can possibly be.

"The comparisons that people are putting out there are around the most explosive midfielders and I think they're not far off the mark with what he's capable of doing."

Hinkley has described this year's Port squad as the strongest he has coached, and his enthusiasm stretches beyond just the Horne-Francis acquisition. It lies in the continued improvement of Butters and Rozee, with Rozee intent on backing up his breakout best and fairest season, as well as Duursma getting back to his running, athletic best on a wing.

"That group of three that we always talk about, their training levels are right at the top. But I think that's because they've been taught really well by Tom (Jonas), Ollie and Travis (Boak) and people who have been at our club over the journey like Brad Ebert and Robbie Gray," he said.

"They transfer that to the new people at the club and you hope it becomes continuous. You hear about new people coming to our club and say 'Gee we train hard' and we do train hard."

The enthusiasm stretches to having Charlie Dixon fit and available, seeing Todd Marshall take his game further after last year's excellent 45-goal season, Sam Powell-Pepper continue to impress and how the Port forward line functions with Orazio Fantasia fit and Rioli added to the mix.

A tough start to the season looms, with games against three (Brisbane, Collingwood and Sydney) of last year's preliminary finalists and a Showdown against Adelaide in the opening month, but Hinkley is confident in his group's approach.

"Talent is one part. I reckon desire and work rate [are also critical] and they're at a really elite level for us now. We've got really good people who are driven to make the most of their footy careers. This is a bloody tough competition. There's 12 or 15 clubs who think they can be very successful this year," he said.

"The competition is set out that way that the talent is meant to be spread and you get your list management and recruiting done at a really high level for a good period of time, which I've been lucky through our club with 'Crippa' (list manager Jason Cripps) and 'Parks' (recruiting manager Geoff Parker) have done that. It just gives you a chance, it doesn't give you a guarantee."

HINKLEY ON…

Ollie Wines

"He's back in training now and progressing really well [after knee surgery]. If you looked at him you'd say he hasn't missed a beat because Ol's a beast and a really fit man who carries nearly 100kg around. He's an incredible athlete. He's just starting to get rolling with his football stuff now. We've been very cautious with his knee because he's 28 and we need him to play for a lot longer now and he's such a combative player. Him having a less combative pre-season is not that big a deal, he just needs a solid month now to be ready to perform and if he gets that he'll be ready to go."

Orazio Fantasia

"He's really important to us. Hopefully he gets a run. We can't talk around his talent, because his talent is undeniable. All we can talk about is that he needs a physical run at it. His first year with us before he got hurt was outstanding. This year he's had a pre-season where, touch wood, nothing has gone wrong. He's been managed over the last couple of weeks but that's been really cautious by us and him. He trained last Friday and back into match simulation and played 30 mins and kicked 3.1 and just looked better."

Xavier Duursma

"Everyone at some point of your footy career, shit doesn't work for you. You get a bit of bad luck and then you try to fight the demons of getting back into the form, and then everything just plonks on top of you and you almost lose your way to play. I think he felt at times last year he wasn't sure whether he was in good enough form. I think he wanted to feel like he was but he was never confident enough in his performance that he was actually delivering on that. He's got his pre-season right, he's a great young man. He's got away and worked really hard. [The wing] is his position. It doesn't mean he has to be there only, but it's his first position for us."

Fresh faces

"(Tom Scully) is training very well and he has moments in training where you think 'Oh this kid can play'. We're a bit excited by him. Kyle Marshall is another one who is a late pick by our team who have done well in picking him up. (Dante) Visentini should be emerging through the back half of this year I think, he's a young ruck who we have a lot of love for and we think he's got some stuff we need. And (Jackson) Mead has had a really strong pre-season. He's one of those boys who just needs that moment of belief."