PORT ADELAIDE CEO Keith Thomas has backed Ken Hinkley to see out his contract as senior coach, and believes he is the man deliver the club a premiership.
Thomas says Hinkley’s relationship with the players is very important, and his game-day knowledge and tactical nous is great for the club.
“Ken will be coach in 2020, absolutely,” Thomas said at a press conference on Monday afternoon at Alberton Oval.
“He is actually an outstanding game-day coach. He has great relationships with his players - they play for him.
“We needed a response from the North Melbourne game, and on Sunday, I thought we got an emphatic response.
“To us, that is an indicator that the playing group cares, they’re committed and they are connected. That was pleasing to see.”
Port’s chief executive says missing finals isn’t where the club wants to be, but the he is excited by the trajectory of the group after some significant changes over the past two years.
Thomas added the club was very optimistic about the football program under Hinkley, despite some external criticism about the coach’s tenure and reports he was only being retained because the club couldn’t afford to pay out his contract.
"It's not that we can't afford to get rid of him," Thomas explained.
"We're choosing not to because we believe that he can build us a premiership team and we think that he's an outstanding coach."
"We're a long way from where we want to be ultimately but I think our trajectory is good… the landscape is significantly different as we end 2019 than it was when we ended 2018 and Ken has to take a lot of credit for that.
"If we think he needs more time, we will extend it. But right now, it's can we foresee a Ken Hinkley-run football program delivering a premiership model? Absolutely."
Thomas also clarified the club’s position surrounding its salary cap and financial situation.
"We have a fully committed salary cap,” he said
“There is no truth in the report that we are not fully resourced.
"We will have enough resources to do whatever we want to do with this program to make it better.
"The reality is our membership number was down this year ... that hurts, no doubt about that.
"And our attendances followed a similar sort of pattern."
