PORT ADELAIDE senior coach Ken Hinkley says his team’s expectations in the second half of the season will not change as a result of the club being on a record 11-game winning streak.
Hinkley’s men overcame a 21-point deficit to overcome reigning premier Geelong at Adelaide Oval for the first time in a regular season game since 2019.
The 38-point win sees Port Adelaide move to the top of the AFL ladder, and Hinkley says it hasn’t altered expectations at Alberton.
"The goals are the same as they were at the start of the season. The run that we're on helps, but it doesn't do anything just now," he said.
"Our goal at the start of the year was the same as it is today – try and win the premiership, that's what we always try and do, but first of all we have to qualify and finish as high as we can.
"Sometimes it builds more pressure in some ways, you're going well so you need to keep going well … but I'm happy to keep banking wins if we can."
The win looked unlikely in the first quarter as the Cats burst out of the blocks to take charge at the first change.
Hinkley said while the visitors were dominant and controlled play, his side knew it had to stick at it and eventually things would turn.
“We got challenged there early by a really strong team and had to hang in there,” Hinkley explained.
“But then we consolidated through the way we like to play and were pretty powerful by the end I thought.
“To Geelong’s credit they came out of the blocks pretty hard and were quite aggressive with their ball movement. You know, big barrels down the middle and assertive with the way they wanted to play.
“That quality a team can do that to you at times but once we were able to close the game down around them and stop them having too much freedom, I thought we certainly were able to make them pay going the other way.”
The tide eventually turned in the third quarter when Port reeled off seven straight goals to break the game open.
Hinkley put the emphatic turnaround down to remaining consistent with team values.
“I think we’re playing with some consistent themes and we demonstrated those themes in that third quarter again,” he said.
“When we built pressure – and we build pressure in different ways; we build pressure by denying the opposition and we build pressure by thriving with our opportunities and I think we were able to do that in that third quarter in both phases of the game.”
A real positive from the contest was the way mid-season rookie pick-up Quinton Narkle was able to slot in and contribute in his club debut.
Narkle was only brought into the side as a late replacement for exciting forward Junior Rioli, who pulled out with illness.
The former Geelong midfielder finished with two goals from his 13 disposals against the club that delisted him at the end of last season.
“What it shows is that the mid-season draft has some benefits for everyone if you do your work well and you identify what you need,” Hinkley said of Narkle’s contribution.
“I think it works really well.
“People who are desperate and keen to do really well – and a high-quality person, brave enough to take it on, certainly gives himself a chance.”
Port Adelaide will enter the bye at the top of the AFL ladder, having played one more game than Collingwood, and while there could be some temptation to want to continue playing so as not to lose momentum, Hinkley said the break would be valuable.
“I think the way we play is really physically demanding so I think (the bye) has come at a good time,” he said.
“When you get the last (of the byes) you wonder if it’s a bit late, would you like it a little earlier, but now we’ve got there in great shape, it gives you a good mental freshener, it gives the boys time to sit back and acknowledge what we’ve been able to do so far.
“I think the whole club has been going pretty well.”
