Power of work to be done
PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says his side is still plagued by inconsistency after it crashed to its first loss of the season, to Essendon at Etihad Stadium yesterday.
Hinkley said the disappointing 22-point loss was evidence the Power still has plenty of work to do. “We’re inconsistent,’’ he said. The Power is 3-1 after earlier wins against Fremantle, Sydney and Brisbane Lions.
“That was for the whole game (against Essendon), we are really inconsistent. We did some nice things but we just weren’t able to stay in that space of really strong, hard footy every contest,” he said.
“That’s why you lose games like this. We weren’t able to stay strong enough and tough enough in crucial parts of the game.
“A simple thing like just take a good mark, hit a decent handball, hit a target by foot, that’s pressure, you’re feeling pressure and we didn’t cope with that well.
“That says that we are inconsistent. We are still a work in progress.
“Overall we’ve put ourselves in a spot at the start of the year that we are reasonably pleased with but there’s been some form in the past two weeks that would suggest we’ve got to get our eye back on the ball.’’
Hinkley said the four-goal margin flattered Port, which trailed all day and was 40 points behind in the third quarter.
And he now has two players — prized recruit Tom Rockliff (calf) and forward Todd Marshall (concussion) — facing fitness tests to play against Geelong on Saturday night.
It is badly missing AllAustralian ruckman Paddy Ryder (achilles tendinitis) — key defender Dougal Howard led the ruck against Essendon — but Hinkley said those pundits calling for the club to promote an untried youngster such as Billy Frampton, Sam Hayes or Peter Ladhams should think again.
“I should say this really clearly, we haven’t got a ruck ready to play,’’ he said.
“I think people should stop calling for that because they don’t know. It’s a really ridiculous thing from outside to say, pick a young ruckman who is not ready to play.
“I’m not going to play people who don’t deserve to be out there and who can’t physically compete.’’
Hinkley defended former Lion Rockliff’s eight-disposal performance, saying he was handicapped by a sore calf after quarter-time.