PORT ADELAIDE senior coach Ken Hinkley has lauded his side for a strong come-from-behind win against Gold Coast on a wet Sunday afternoon at Adelaide Oval.
The Suns led at half time by four points, but a seven-goal-to-one second half saw the Power steam home by six goals.
“I thought it was a really strong performance from our team,” Hinkley said at the post-game press conference.
“Gold Coast, to their credit, have been outstanding all season and keeping games in a really tough environment.
“I thought our willingness to be bold early cost us a couple of goals, that’s to be clear.
“We’re not going to stop doing that. We are going to keep taking that game on.”
Heading into the main break, the Power were a kick down but the belief within the group was there according to the coach, and the message from the coaching group was to keep attacking the game.
“Our message at half time was to just stick at it boys and I thought it was a domination in the second half,” Hinkley said.
“44 entries to nine in anyone’s language is a pretty impressive performance by a good young group.”
Hinkley - in his seventh year at the helm of the Power - said the depth in the list they are building at Alberton is pleasing, and despite the injuries, the players coming in are performing their roles.
“What you’ve got to remember, when your method is nice and strong for us - we believe we’ve got some significant depth on our list this year - I think the method we try and play is ingrained in our players,” he said.
“We’ve seen earlier this year - teams do that to us with some players missing - Richmond I use as an example.
“For us today, I think we did something similar, we stuck at the method we like to play.
“I’ve thought this for a while, I think our list is really developing well.
“It’s not always going to provide wins but I’m really confident we have a list that’s going in the right direction, and the direction of being a good side not just an okay side.”
The 52-year-old was full of praise for his former skipper Boak, who continued on his fantastic start to season 2019.
“He was great wasn’t he,” Hinkley said.
“It was a game that just needed someone to continually keep turning up and work really hard, and Trav just did that all day.
“He just keeps putting himself in those spots through pure work-rate.
“He still just wants to be a great player in this competition and it’s a fantastic start to the season.”
The Power head to Launceston to play Hawthorn next weekend, before trips to Shanghai and Perth in the weeks to follow.
