Proud Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley lauded the efforts of his young side which came so close to a grand final berth on Saturday night, but also warned that the Power would need to keep improving to continue its climb from near the foot of the AFL ladder to a potential premiership.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While Hinkley bemoaned the missed shots at goal which saw his side only 12 points to the good against Hawthorn at quarter-time despite dominating play early, the Power a wasteful 3.9 at the first break, he took time to pay tribute to the determination which also saw them haul back a deficit of 29 points as late as the 13-minute mark of the final term.
"You've just got to say that they're an incredibly brave group the way they just keep going," Hinkley said. "They had every right to roll over. They've had an amazing September. But we've got to get better. We don't want to lose, we want to play next week and we're not, and that's the hard part."
Hinkley stressed the missed opportunities weren't only about shots at goal, but in the Power's failure to win enough contested ball and stoppages during the second and third quarters, when Hawthorn "got a hold" of the Power with 11 goals to five. But he said another solid pre-season could help his team execute better under pressure and for longer.
"We do as much training as we possibly can and make sure we improve in all our skills," Hinkley said. "It wasn't just the goalkicking though. We missed some opportunities no doubt about that, from tough angles.
"Perhaps if we were able to get some better execution at times going into our forward 50, that may have made those opportunities a little bit easier too, because we spend a lot of time fine-tuning those areas of our game, goalkicking, ground balls, contested ... all the stuff that you should spend time on, we do that. But when the pressure comes on, that's when you've got to be able to produce."
Hinkley said Port Adelaide had now earned the respect of the football world, after a sizeable proportion of pundits and the football public remained sceptical about the club's chances of making finals again in 2014 at the start of the season.
"It's been a really strong consolidation year I reckon as far as what we were able to do, because no one thought we were any good, let's be honest," he said. "That's the respect we have to earn, and I know now that we've got some of that, we've actually earned it, and those blokes next door, my young players, they deserve that respect now."
And the coach re-affirmed his commitment for his team to continue to play fast and attacking football. Asked whether he believed the Power had helped shift the mentality of the game by taking it on more, Hinkley replied: "I hope so. It's pretty exciting footy, isn't it?
"When you watch this group of young men play footy, they play exciting footy. If you want to watch footy that's exciting and fun, come and watch Port Adelaide, because we won't stop that. We'll keep playing that way. I've got a great belief in the way the game should be played - and the players believe in it, too. The whole club believes in it. We want footy to be fun. 'Kochie' [Port chairman David Koch] said that when he first came on board. You should be able to play brave, consistent, tough and ruthless football, and Port Adelaide looked like it most of the season."
