DEW PROCESS
Sydney senior assistant targeted as Hinkley ruled out
GOLD Coast will interview Sydney senior assistant Stuart Dew this week after missing out on Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley.
Hinkley yesterday broke a five-day silence to confirm he was staying at the Power for next season and beyond.
The Suns had hoped to prise Hinkley, 50, out of South Australia but will instead return their attention to the best of the AFL’s Level 4 coaches.
The Suns began interviewing candidates in Melbourne last week with Carlton stoppages coach John Barker and St Kilda midfield coach Adam Kingsley among the contenders.
Dew postponed his interview on Saturday as speculation over Hinkley’s future raged.
More formal presentations will take place in the coming weeks and a decision on Rodney Eade’s replacement is expected in the first week of October.
The Suns’ search changed direction last Tuesday when chief executive Mark Evans reached out to Hinkley’s management after being told of potential friction between Hinkley and Power chairman David Koch. But Hinkley, who is already contracted to Port for 2018, said yesterday he was staying for the long term.
“What I can tell you is that I am contracted and happily contracted ... for 2018,” Hinkley told Adelaide radio.
“We have been talking. There’s no doubt about that. There has been some interest from outside of Port Adelaide ... (but) there has never been any doubt in my mind that this group of players, that we are in it together … we’re starting to get somewhere again.”
Asked about a contract extension, Hinkley said: “At some stage, in the very near future, that will hopefully take care of itself.”
Hinkley said he was firmly committed to his role at Port Adelaide.
KEN Hinkley has reaffirmed – to himself – that he is still the right man standing to coach Port Adelaide.
Hinkley said last night he spent the weekend – when he was reported to have quit the Power to accept a fiveyear deal at Gold Coast – making an honest personal assessment of his ability to work at Alberton next year.
Hinkley’s conclusion was Gold Coast “did not fit” and he would stand by his contract with Port Adelaide.
“At the end of a season, you review yourself and your own energy,” Hinkley said. “You see what level that is at.
“For me it has been a long and hard season,” added Hinkley, one of the three coaches (along with Damien Hardwick at Richmond and Nathan Buckley at Collingwood) who started the AFL season under the most pressure to keep their jobs.
All three will coach their clubs next season.
“I needed to make sure that I had the energy to do what I need to do to give my football club and my players the best chance to be successful. Once you do that, it is all OK and you move forward. And you are full of energy to go again.
“I am comfortable and committed to Port Adelaide.”
Hinkley, 51 at the end of the month, will next year complete his sixth season at the Power where he has a 65-50 win-loss record and qualified for three AFL finals series. He says he is not fussed with locking a contract extension in the offseason or during next year.
“I am committed to Port Adelaide for 2018 and, hopefully, to Port Adelaide for a bit longer in the very near future,” he said.
“It is now a discussion between the football club and my manager (Peter Blucher) – and that will take care of itself very quickly I imagine.”
Hinkley dismissed he had been taken to the brink by club president David Koch’s emotive speech to Adelaide Oval members after the elimination final loss in extra time to West Coast on September 9.
Koch put on notice the Power players demanding they be inspired to win a premiership with Port Adelaide or they should ask for a trade – a theme many considered beyond his office.
Hinkley also dismissed a rift with Koch saying: “Not at all. David, (chief executive) Keith (Thomas) and I are working together – and very hard – to give our club the best chance.
“If that means holding people accountable to high standards, we are happy to do that.”