PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley says winning the minor premiership is a significant achievement his side will celebrate for one night before moving on to the bigger job at hand – winning the 2020 premiership.
Hinkley’s men sealed the club’s fourth McClelland Trophy and first since it won the flag in 2004 by beating Collingwood at the Gabba on Monday night.
After conceding the lead in a neck-and-neck battle early in the third term, Port put the foot down with three straight goals before holding on to win 9.7 (61) to 7.3 (45).
It was a see-sawing contest but Hinkley was most proud that his side kept finding a way to counter Collingwood’s pressure in a game where Pies’ skipper Scott Pendlebury broke his club’s games record and record for most games as captain.
“I loved our ruthlessness from the start to the end,” Hinkley said.
“I thought it was a game against quality opposition who had a lot to play for, and we acknowledge Scott (Pendlebury) again, he’s been a fantastic player in this competition.
“You’re going to play for a bloke like that so we knew that was a challenge.
“We knew we had an opportunity tonight so we were motivated to play that brand and we were able to at times change the game pretty quickly and get it back on our terms.”
While key forward Charlie Dixon was relatively well held, kept to just one goal, Port had seven goal kickers on the night.
Much of the criticism levelled at Port is that it is too Dixon-centric in attack but Hinkley said that was not the case.
“Charlie gets a lot of attention for being Charlie and everyone goes to Charlie, but what happens when they all go to Charlie something else happens for other people,” he explained.
“He’s been willing to take that heat and it’s significant when you’ve got more options in your forward line that people can recognise and when you’ve got players like Rozee and Marshall and Powell-Pepper comes in and midfielders kick goals – they all play a part at a moment and that’s really important.
“We’re a different front half team, we’re a different forward line than we have been.”
The win caps a remarkable campaign for Port which won 14 of 17 games and stayed top from Round 1 until the end of the home and away season.
Hinkley said his side deserved to celebrate that achievement.
“It’s really significant. The boys deserve it. It’s been a 30-week season,” he said.
“We’ve played for a long time and managed to protect it all year.
“I think it’s the first time in 19 years that someone’s done that so I’m just proud of the boys and the way they’ve played.
“It’s a moment that you should take the time and sit back and enjoy tonight. We should be able to acknowledge the work we’ve done to get there – any team would.
“It’s then a matter of moving on pretty quickly but we’ll enjoy it tonight.”
Port's win means it will host Geelong at Adelaide Oval in a qualifying final on a date to be announced.
The Cats were the last side to beat the Power, six weeks ago when they embarrassed the ladder leader on the Gold Coast.
They also come in ahead of Port in premiership favouritism, along with Richmond, West Coast and Brisbane, despite their respective ladder positions.
“The teams who have been great teams for a long time, we’re talking about the Richmonds and Geelongs and Brisbane, West Coast – they’ve been up there and they deserve - and you have to work really hard to change the narrative,” Hinkley said forthrightly.
“Right now we’re working really hard to change that narrative. We want to be one of those teams people respect.”
And while the last outing against the Cats was a forgettable night, Hinkley said it would be different this time around, in front of a vocal Port Adelaide crowd at Adelaide Oval.
“We’ve been a really consistent team all year but every team in the competition has had a day or two where they haven’t quite got it right. We don’t hide away from that,” Hinkley said.
“We have an opportunity to play at our home ground. We’ve earnt that and the state of South Australia has earnt that with the way it’s handled this pandemic.
“We’ve played 10 times in Queensland this year and seven times in Adelaide so we’ve got a pretty good record in either spot.
“It’s nice to play at Adelaide Oval and hopefully with the Port Adelaide people there it’ll be an environment that’ll be a bit hostile and hopefully our boys can play the brand of footy they’ve played all year.”
Port Adelaide will also be boosted with injured defenders Ryan Burton and Tom Clurey and the suspended Zak Butters expected to be available for selection.
