Saturday night marked the 275th game of Ken Hinkley’s coaching career – the first of his final season in charge at Port Adelaide.
Port Adelaide was 34 points down at half-time and never recovered, struggling to match Collingwood’s frenetic pressure – they lost the tackle count by 25 – in a tough start to 2025 for a side that reached the penultimate weekend of last season.
“It was really disappointing. Round one and we didn’t play anywhere near like we’ve been performing in the pre-season and training,” Hinkley told reporters.
“Collingwood beat us the way they’ve beaten us in the past; they were too physical and able to hurt us badly on turnover. We looked like a team that didn’t play last week; they looked like a team that had played and got a reminder. We were miles off the pace, everyone knows that. We were really disappointed in that effort.
“They beat us physically and they beat us on the run, as well. They didn’t just beat us one-way. Clearly when you win the game by that much you dominate the game in all phases. It’s hard to be positive about anything around the way we played other than we’re in a transition, we’re in the space of playing a slightly different game style and clearly we have a lot to learn.”
Port Adelaide will return to Adelaide on Sunday morning ahead of a clash against Richmond at home next Saturday.
