A defiant Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has called for calm after his side’s dismal 84-point loss to Geelong in the qualifying final at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
Hinkley’s men kicked just one goal after half time, as Geelong’s role players put on a clinic to book in their ninth preliminary final in 14 years.
It has left question marks over Hinkley’s finals prowess, considering his side went out in straight sets last season and have lost their last four finals.
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On top of that, the Power have lost seven of their last 10 finals appearances, leaving Hinkley with some serious doubts heading into another semi final.
But the under fire coach is refusing to throw the baby out with the bath water.
“We can’t make wholesale changes at this time of year. We just don’t have the personnel,” Hinkley said post match.
He also called on fans to stick fat with the club, who get a second chance in a home semi final next week.
“They (the fans) won’t feel any worse than us. We need them to stick with us and come along and be here to help and support us and believe in the team,” Hinkley said.
“The team have been trying their arses off all through this year to get to this point.
“We failed tonight. I’m not going to spend another second in, ‘we couldn’t deliver what we needed to deliver, we didn’t deliver in the final that we wanted to deliver in’.
“But we’re going to learn from it and we’re going to work really hard to break through that barrier and give ourselves another chance.”
Power forward Charlie Dixon received bronx cheers from the Port Adelaide crowd, after a quiet performance that saw him collect only three disposals in the loss.
Hinkley urged his fan base to remember that their forward stocks were limited, considering Todd Marshall, who wasn’t selected, had only played limited minutes over the past two months.
“Don’t forget Todd’s played one game and half a game in eight weeks. We didn’t have Todd fit and firing and playing lots of football,” Hinkley said.
“We just really didn’t have all the choices that you want in that space.”
Hinkley also attempted to remind frustrated fans that the club loses together, hoping those on the outside understand that it’s not only his fault they couldn’t get the win.
“It’s about our coaching group and it’s about our playing group. I get that it falls back to the head coach in some ways,” he said.
“The reality is, we’ve always said that this is all of us doing this, this is all of us trying to achieve something together.”
The Power will play either the Western Bulldogs or Hawthorn in their home semi final at Adelaide Oval next weekend.