Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has attempted to take the heat off himself after his side’s 36-point loss to Sydney in Friday night’s preliminary final at the SCG.
Hinkley now has coached a record 12 seasons without a grand final appearance, standing alone with a record he and the Power would rather not have.
It’s not one he wants to hold, but he has urged externals to see the bigger picture.
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It’s not just his fault that the side has failed to reach a grand final.
But there is growing pressure on Hinkley, who has now coached his side to four losses from their last four preliminary final outings.
“I’m not silly enough to not acknowledge that I have been the constant at the footy club (and not making a grand final),” Hinkley said in his post-match press conference on Friday night.
“But it’s not one person (at fault). We should stop that story.
“This is a whole club thing that goes on. It’s not one person responsible.
“If we had have got through (to a grand final), it wouldn’t have been me (who did it). And if we didn’t get through … it would be us.
“I think that’s the language we like to use. It’s about us, not me necessarily.”
However, the coach, who has one year left to run on his contract at the Power, knows he will still be the one shouldering the most blame.
But he’ll continue to front up for his club and guide them through another flag tilt in 2024.
“But I do understand that as the head coach, you cop the brunt of that (losing),” Hinkley said.
“I’m OK with copping the brunt. But the reality is, you can’t do this without a full club, you just can’t. No one person is going to do that on his own.
“I understand the story will be, ‘We failed to get there’, but we had a decent crack at it.”
And Hinkley, who has absorbed the most pressure from the failings to reach a grand final since 2007, admits he’s been leaning on those closest to prop him up.
“I’ve had great support from my family but also from my footy club,” he said.
“We understand the storylines that go with my position. It’s part of the job. I’m OK with that, I can deal with that.
“I don’t necessarily enjoy it, but the reality is, it’s part of what I do. And if I can’t cop, I shouldn’t be here.”
Hinkley sees the loss pretty clearly.
“They were planning a better brand of footy tonight. Whether we were fresh or not fresh, whatever the excuse. Sydney were just better,” Hinkley said.
“They were more polished than us. That wasn’t around freshness, that was just around the way they played.”
The last time Port Adelaide made a grand final was in 2007 when they lost to Geelong by a V/AFL record 119 points.