Port Adelaide claimed its fifth win for the 2023 season in a hard fought battle against ladder-leaders St Kilda on Friday night.
In a tight contest where the lead changed hands four times in the second half as neither side could shake off the other, Port Adelaide finished in front with a 7-point victory.
Speaking post-game, senior coach Ken Hinkley made a point of emphasising the pressure both sides applied, and was thrilled to come away from Melbourne with the four points.
"I was sitting down on the beach – the beach, I wish I was at the beach, bloody hell, that would have been a bit easier – but I was on the bench and you could feel the pressure in the game, you could genuinely feel the pressure in the game," he said.
"That was a big game, I thought, and for those who watched, contested footy, two sides going really hard at it all night, our boys and the Saints boys gave four quarters of hard effort, and I thought we were lucky enough to be in front at the end."
Hinkley was pleased with the efforts of young midfielder Jason Horne-Francis, but said it was a collective effort in the middle of the ground.
"He's got a lot to work on and a lot to improve to, but I thought again tonight he showed some growth in his game and there's still further growth to come in all phases of the game," he said.
"But tonight was really impressive. You saw his power tonight, that's what we know about him and everyone knows about him in his draft year, he's got this great power.
"Jason may have been the result of some great work going on inside. But I think some of the young players on the inside – (Connor) Rozee, (Zak) Butters, Jase is in there himself, Ollie (Wines) was in there at times, Travis (Boak) went back in a fair bit more tonight than we have the past few weeks – but we felt as if we could get a bit of speed on the floor, that might be helpful against the Saints."
Hinkley was also keen to seek clarification from the umpires about the sheer number of frees the side has conceded this year.
"For us, I'm not an umpire bagger or whinger, but at the moment, we're a long way in front of the free kicks against. It'd be nice to get some clarity from the umpires back to us, if we're that poor at some of the things we're doing, I'd just love to get that direction coming back our way," Hinkley said.
"Because I don't want to go searching for it, in a two-way conversation, it'd be nice to feel why we've given away 20-plus more free kicks for holding the man in this competition, six rounds in.
"That's a big number, a big, big number. That gives away 300-400m in a game of football. We're aware of it, we're working at it, but we seem to be keeping on doing it, so we must have something wrong with the umpiring of the game."
