PORT ADELAIDE senior coach Ken Hinkley has doubled down on his warning to the competition that his side is “coming”, saying he has no doubt that the current group will win premierships.
Hinkley made the comments during his speech at the club’s annual Best and Fairest event on Thursday night.
Defender Darcy Byrne-Jones took home the John Cahill Medal as the Best and Fairest – his first such accolade at the club.
Hinkley talked of his pride in the way his side attacked one of the most challenging campaigns ever experienced, saying it had made great strides in 2020 but the journey had just begun.
“This team is going to go a long long way and it’s going to win. More then once, it’s going to win,” he said to the crowd of around 500 people at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
“I sat before the boys in Round 1, and asked them for their help and they delivered it with everything they had.
“We’ll make sure this group of young men get the ultimate prize because I’ve never hurt as much in footy as after that Preliminary Final.
“Seeing the faces on you boys and seeing how much it hurt and how much you put in.
“But I’ll say this. You don’t get anything given, you’ve got to work for it, and we will.”
Hinkley said the narrow loss to Richmond which saw the side miss out on a Grand Final berth burned and would drive the side to improve in 2021.
“13 days ago, a prelim final. It still hurts. I know it hurts everyone because we gave our all. It burns and it burns deep,” he said.
“I know it’ll drive this group and it’ll have to because we have to get better in 2021.
“We did climb a mountain and we did slip on the last step.
“But you’ve got to risk that slip otherwise you’re never going to get to where Port Adelaide is always going and that is to win the premiership.
“I’m sure this group can take us to a premiership so we’ll climb again and we’ll climb bloody hard.”
In February Hinkley warned the competition his side was hellbent on winning the Premiership in the club’s 150th Anniversary Year.
Many laughed at the time but he has since been lauded for being bold, having had his side sit top of the table for the entire season and then being named the AFLCA’s Coach of the Year as voted by his peers.
Hinkley told the audience he was confident then that his side had what it took to push for the flag, and he has no doubt now.
“Everyone thought I was crazy (when I said we were coming) but I know with the support that I’ve got it was the right thing to say,” he explained.
“We’re not backing down. We accept the expectation of the entire Port Adelaide family.
“We are Port Adelaide and we are still coming.
“We’ll enter the first of our next 150 years as determined as we’ve ever been before to deliver the Port Adelaide family a premiership.
“This team will get it.”
Hinkley thanked the board, his football department staff and players for their commitment but saved special praise for outgoing CEO Keith Thomas who was enjoying his final official function in the role before finishing up this week.
Among his many achievements, Thomas appointed Hinkley in 2011 when he had been overlooked for several other senior coaching roles.
“I don’t know why you did it KT, nobody else would give me a job!” Hinkley laughed.
“You gave me my go and you backed me in. Eight years in, we talk about stability, we talk about keeping things on track.
“I still remember the headline “last man standing”
“You chased me for a bit and I kept saying no for a bit. Then I said yes and you said no! – remember that?
“You’ve been fantastic, you’ve done a great job. It’s just been incredible what you’ve done for our footy club.”
It was announced at the event that Executive General Manager Matthew Richardson had been elevated to replace Thomas, starting on Monday 2 November.
