PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has expressed his pride in his side’s ability to ‘hang tough’ in the face of a mounting injury toll and a quality Richmond outfit to grind out a two-point win over the reigning premiers on Friday night.
Port dominated most of the key statistics but could not put the Tigers away with the game going right to the wire. Robbie Gray’s goal with four minutes to play cancelled out a goal by Kane Lambert that put Richmond in front and Port held on to win 11.13 (79) to 11.11 (77).
Hinkley will now be sweating on the results of scans on young guns Xavier Duursma and Zak Butters, who suffered respective knee and ankle injuries, among a host of players who came away battered and bruised.
“Port Adelaide Richmond games are always great games. Both teams fight really tough, both teams are desperate to win and both teams play to the end and I think that was a remarkable performance by us by the end of it, when I think we had six blokes who had copped a bit – whether they be corkies, whether they be sore knees, ankles,” the Port coach said after the game.
"There was a bit going on out there in the carnage. There'll be a couple we need to assess, so I can't give you updates.
"Without being too optimistic, they're positive [Duursma] might not be the worst case with a knee injury, and we all know what that is, an ACL. It doesn't mean it's not, but at this stage, there's some optimism around that, because they do some tests initially but we should wait and see, it would be wrong for us to guess when I haven’t got the right information.”
It was a big response from Hinkley’s outfit after being dominated in the clearances and contest in the loss to West Coast last week.
The Power had 36 clearances to 24 and won the contested possession count 154 to 119.
It dominated the middle stages of the game, particularly in the second quarter but it failed to do the damage on the scoreboard after missing numerous set shots and at one stage leading into half time kicked five straight behinds.
“Some of the key stats went our way but our efficiency early probably kept Richmond in the game and that’s what they do, they just won’t go away,” Hinkley said.
“We found a way to hang in there. Lambert kicks a goal, Robbie (Gray) kicks a goal then we find a way to hang in there.
“Even the last three minutes… where we had to hang tough under the footy. Ollie marks a couple of big balls, Drewy played his part but Richmond were doing their best as well.
“We won, so we deserved to win but it could have gone either way.”
Port Adelaide lost forward Todd Marshall in the warm up. He failed a fitness test after rolling his ankle at training on Wednesday and was replaced in the selected side by Peter Ladhams but Hinkley expected him to be able to face Carlton in Melbourne next Saturday.
Teenager Lachie Jones made his AFL debut and looked right at home. The impressively built backman’s every action was greeted by applause from the 33,000-strong crowd and the lifelong Port supporter celebrated his 19th birthday with a Powerade shower singing the song in the rooms.
“I though he played with some power,” Hinkley said of Jones’ performance. “He made some mistakes but Lach was pretty impressive.
“It was his birthday today, he’s been a Port fan, he’s been part of the family for a long time and he’s had a pretty good 19th birthday I reckon.”
The result over Richmond continues a remarkable record Hinkley’s sides have over the reigning premier.
It has now beaten the premier in eight of the last nine seasons including each of the last five.
“We want to be the premier and you’ve got to beat the premier if you’re at some stage going to be the premier. We chase that with our eyes wide open and know you’ve got to beat the best,” he said.
“We’ve got a long way to go and injuries sometimes get in your way but with a bit of even luck and some good opportunities, I’m sure we’re a good team but you’ve still got to go a long way.
“It’s round 4 so there’s a long way to go.
“This group has shown some resilience and we were questioned on our consistency, our resilience, our ability to hang tough. You can’t keep asking that question of this group I don’t reckon.”
