Opinion Sack Hinkley 9 - I Am Become Donuts, Destroyer Of Ports

[Poo Eckert]

Imagine having a midfield consisting of 2 of the best 5 mids in the game (as rated by AFL coaches) plus Jason Horne Francis plus a Brownlow medallist and NOT winning the flag.

Anything less than a flag this year is an absolute failure with that level of talent in the middle.

I get that, but I agree with David King, we have issues either end of the ground, yes those lads are good, but we are a key defender short and our tall forwards aren’t killing it

 

[Poo Eckert]

Hardwick winning a final with the Suns is the most inevitable written thing since Messi winning the World Cup. when he retires he'll be lauded for Shaping and Defining the Suns Culture™. the AFL will probably have them beat us in a Granny soon, knowing our luck.

I wouldn’t be too hysterical, GWS for all their talent only made the dance once.

 

[Us against the rest]

I wouldn’t be too hysterical, GWS for all their talent only made the dance once.

GWS have been in the comp for 11 years and have made a GF, Hinkley has been at Port for 11 years and has ZERO GF appearances. That says it all.

PS. We have been a young group excuse has been rolled out for 11 years also, go figure.

 

[DaBarz]

I wouldn’t be too hysterical, GWS for all their talent only made the dance once.

Team of champions v champion team

I still maintain defence wins flags - ours is lacking

 

[Poo Eckert]

Team of champions v champion team

I still maintain defence wins flags - ours is lacking

Yes I agree, that will be our finals issue. Unless when we have our run on we maximise our score.

Best result, win QF, bye Pre lim win GF I don’t think we can win 4 finals in a row statistically

 

[sobrave]

I get that, but I agree with David King, we have issues either end of the ground, yes those lads are good, but we are a key defender short and our tall forwards aren’t killing it

have you seen collingwoods forward line? melbourne's when they won the flag?

very rarely you get a team that's got everything sorted.

richmond was chock full of spuds but won 3 flags.

good coaches win flags despite shortcomings. daddy is probably never gonna get an Essendon 2000 or Carlton '95 paper bags or Geelong 2007 team. But maybe we should keep him around forever just in case he gets all australians on every line?

 

[Fizzler]

Imagine having a midfield consisting of 2 of the best 5 mids in the game (as rated by AFL coaches) plus Jason Horne Francis plus a Brownlow medallist and NOT winning the flag.

Anything less than a flag this year is an absolute failure with that level of talent in the middle.

We definitely have deficiencies but you’d think this midfield could account for them. The big problem is in the ruck, but to me there’s no surprise we’ve had strong wins with Hayes in the side, he gets the kids the footy and the amount of supply that should lead to up forward should be able to counter that. To me not making a GF would be a travesty, and one I’m fully expecting to see us miss.

 

[tribey]

GWS have been in the comp for 11 years and have made a GF, Hinkley has been at Port for 11 years and has ZERO GF appearances. That says it all.

11 of the other 17 clubs have, with Brisbane in the boxseat to make it 12.

“It’s a tough competition”.

 

[stokholme]

GWS have been in the comp for 11 years and have made a GF, Hinkley has been at Port for 11 years and has ZERO GF appearances. That says it all.

PS. We have been a young group excuse has been rolled out for 11 years also, go figure.

Me: If I hear "we're a young group" one more time this century, I think I'm going to scream

Ken Hinkley in his presser after the 2023 prelim loss: "We're a young group"

Me:

 

[Steve Dore]

Imagine having a midfield consisting of 2 of the best 5 mids in the game (as rated by AFL coaches) plus Jason Horne Francis plus a Brownlow medallist and NOT winning the flag.

Anything less than a flag this year is an absolute failure with that level of talent in the middle.

Apparently if Hinkley doesn't have a team stacked with All Australians then he is over achieving just making finals. He cannot be expected to make a Grand Final let alone win one.

 

[tribey]

Apparently if Hinkley doesn't have a team stacked with All Australians than he is over achieving just making finals. He cannot be expected to make a Grand Final let alone win one.

Not everyone can be lucky enough to have a back six with Fletcher Roberts and Joel Hamling in the key defensive posts, man.

 

[Alberton Proud]

When they love you
View attachment 1780997

 

[Poo Eckert]

We definitely have deficiencies but you’d think this midfield could account for them. The big problem is in the ruck, but to me there’s no surprise we’ve had strong wins with Hayes in the side, he gets the kids the footy and the amount of supply that should lead to up forward should be able to counter that. To me not making a GF would be a travesty, and one I’m fully expecting to see us miss.

Answering sobrave here, I’m not defending Hinkley in the slightest,’however we have some holes to fill IMO.

However our midfield is one year away from no excuses IMO, Rozee and Butters, Duursma will be peak prime next year, JHF third year and full pre season should be at 75% of his capacity with 100% being year 4-5. Supported by Wines and Drew.

Then players like Bergman, Jones hitting their straps also.

2024 should be the year of no excuses.

Hopefully Mitch, Todd and Jeremy up forward. With Rioli, SPP at their feet.
Alir, McKay/Esa, McKenzie with Jones, Houston and co as support.

That’s as good as it gets for us, hopefully no major injuries to key players.

I hope with SPP and narkle, we may be having a small natter to Shai Bolton with Richmond transitioning, up forward and mid rotation would be perfect.

 

[Us against the rest]

11 of the other 17 clubs have, with Brisbane in the boxseat to make it 12.

“It’s a tough competition”.

We exist to make the eight.

 

[Janus]

GWS have been in the comp for 11 years and have made a GF, Hinkley has been at Port for 11 years and has ZERO GF appearances. That says it all.

PS. We have been a young group excuse has been rolled out for 11 years also, go figure.

Are you seriously comparing a list that was able to recruit the best 12 17 years olds in the country and then get access to 9 of the first 15 first round picks PLUS sign talent like Scully, Davis and Ward without having to pay direct compensation to their respective clubs when they entered the competition…to a list that contained spuds like John Butcher, Cameron O’Shea, Andrew Moore, Jasper Pittard and so forth, that was built without any kind of drafting/scouting network?

 

[Us against the rest]

Are you seriously comparing a list that was able to recruit the best 12 17 years olds in the country and then get access to 9 of the first 15 first round picks PLUS sign talent like Scully, Davis and Ward without having to pay direct compensation to their respective clubs when they entered the competition…to a list that contained spuds like John Butcher, Cameron O’Shea, Andrew Moore, Jasper Pittard and so forth, that was built without any kind of drafting/scouting network?

No I was more thinking, Robbie Gray, Chad Wingard, Jay Schulz, Brad Ebert, Hamish Hartlett, Mathew Broadbent, Jackson Trengove, Angus Monfries, Jarred Polec, Mathew White, Paddy Ryder, Charlie Dixon, Tom Rockliff, Steven Motlop, Peter Ladhams.

Just some off the top of my head and that's without the overlap of our current list.

 

[Us against the rest]

Are you seriously comparing a list that was able to recruit the best 12 17 years olds in the country and then get access to 9 of the first 15 first round picks PLUS sign talent like Scully, Davis and Ward without having to pay direct compensation to their respective clubs when they entered the competition…to a list that contained spuds like John Butcher, Cameron O’Shea, Andrew Moore, Jasper Pittard and so forth, that was built without any kind of drafting/scouting network?

Ken has gone through enough players to make 3 lists, enough is enough, even you must see by now that it wont matter how much talent Ken has, we will win nothing under him, we have become mentally weak as a footy team and a club.
If you drop your standards and expectations you never lose, that is the new Port Adelaide.

 

[Chrizzt]

Not everyone can be lucky enough to have a back six with Fletcher Roberts and Joel Hamling in the key defensive posts, man.

To be fair, if we were the beneficiary of the type of "creative" rule interpretations the '16 Dogs were afforded, we could have won the premiership with our 2011 lineup.

 

[Fizzler]

Answering sobrave here, I’m not defending Hinkley in the slightest,’however we have some holes to fill IMO.

However our midfield is one year away from no excuses IMO, Rozee and Butters, Duursma will be peak prime next year, JHF third year and full pre season should be at 75% of his capacity with 100% being year 4-5. Supported by Wines and Drew.

Then players like Bergman, Jones hitting their straps also.

2024 should be the year of no excuses.

Hopefully Mitch, Todd and Jeremy up forward. With Rioli, SPP at their feet.
Alir, McKay/Esa, McKenzie with Jones, Houston and co as support.

That’s as good as it gets for us, hopefully no major injuries to key players.

I hope with SPP and narkle, we may be having a small natter to Shai Bolton with Richmond transitioning, up forward and mid rotation would be perfect.

100% agree with you here, and this is definitely why I said a GF rather than a flag. To me it’s as simple as nailing these few things next year and there’ll be no reason (other than Hinkley) why we won’t win a flag.

1. Our players continue to improve or don’t drop off too much if they’re towards the end of the their careers.
2. A strong offseason with solid recruits in our most needed areas (key defender, then ruckman if necessary, then maybe a forward/mid).
3. A good run with injuries, not fussed if we have 8 players out at the pointy end with a combined 50 games, I just hope we don’t lose too many important players for a big chunk.
4. A whole lot of luck, something we’ve had a bit of this year (vs Sydney and Essendon namely) but it would be nice to have some more.

 

[Lightning_Rod]

Talent hasn't been our issue in the past 10 years, it's mentality, we are weak minded and fold like a deck of cards under pressure, I'm not sure if it stems from the deeply ingrained issues of September 2007 or if it's Ken's good bloke, more to life than footy philosophy, but we could have a stacked deck and still fall short.

On moto g62 5G using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[El_Scorcho]

We won the 2004 flag with a midfield of unheralded battlers compared to the rolled gold goat midfield of Voss, Black, Akermanis and Lappin who didn't have to fit the rest of their team under a salary cap. Our 2nd key forward was Toby Thurstans

Toby Thurstans

Age

44

Ht

196cm

Wt

95kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.4

3star

K

5.8

2star

HB

5.6

4star

M

4.7

4star

T

1.9

4star

No current season stats available

D

6.6

2star

K

4.2

2star

HB

2.4

3star

M

2.4

3star

T

1.4

4star

. Our 3rd key defender was Matthew Bishop

Matthew Bishop

Age

49

Ht

195cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.2

3star

K

6.9

3star

HB

3.3

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

0.7

3star

No current season stats available

D

6.8

2star

K

4.6

2star

HB

2.2

2star

M

3.2

4star

T

0.4

3star

. We had our best ruckman and best midfielder, both All Australians, out all season.

None of these were barriers to a flag and those excuses certainly wouldn't have saved Choco if he didn't win a flag in his 6th season.

But iT'S noT ThE sANfL AnyMoRE!

 

[MrMeaner]

I remain convinced that the biggest issue in the forward line is not the players but the way they are told to play. That we kick any goals in the mess that is our forward structure and with our tactics up there is a miracle.

 

[Steve Dore]

.... without having to pay direct compensation to their respective clubs ...

Yep, not having to pay compensation certainly made them better players than any of the absolute spuds Kenny Hinkley has been burdened with over eleven seasons.

"Ken has reshaped our playing list several times across the last decade" - PAFC CEO Matthew Richardson, 16 August 2023

 

[tribey]

It’s genuinely astonishing that there is still an enduring school of thought that is insistent on blaming a lack of [access to] talent.

I remember Richmond fans and sympathisers being balls-deep in that pity party until around three-quarters of the way through 2017.

“The entries of Gold Coast and GWS have killed us ”

Now we look back on their three premierships and bemoan their fortune at assembling a glided squad of battle-hardened all-stars.

By the end of this season (and barring a history-flipping miracle by us), there will be a dozen clubs who have made at least a Granny since Ken took over.

And precious few of them had/have Dream Team at Barcelona’92 levels of sheer talent.

 

[Janus]

It’s genuinely astonishing that there is still an enduring school of thought that is insistent on blaming a lack of [access to] talent.

I remember Richmond fans and sympathisers being balls-deep in that pity party until around three-quarters of the way through 2017.

“The entries of Gold Coast and GWS have killed us ”

Now we look back on their three premierships and bemoan their fortune at assembling a glided squad of battle-hardened all-stars.

By the end of this season (and barring a history-flipping miracle by us), there will be a dozen clubs who have made at least a Granny since Ken took over.

And precious few of them had/have Dream Team at Barcelona’92 levels of sheer talent.

Where did Tom Lynch, Josh Caddy and Dion Prestia first ply their trade?

What picks did Richmond use to pick Dustin Martin and Trent Cotchin?

Here I’ll help you out:

Vlastuin - Pick 9, 2012 draft
Prestia - Pick 9, 2010 draft (Gold Coast), traded for in 2016
Martin - Pick 3, 2009 draft
Ellis - Pick 15, 2011 draft
Grigg - Pick 19, 2006 draft
Reiwoldt - Pick 13, 2006 draft
Edwards - Pick 26, 2006 draft
Cotchin - Pick 2, 2007 draft
Astbury - Pick 35, 2009 draft
Houli - Pick 42, 2006 draft - walked to Richmond via PSD in 2011 when he was a known quantity
Rioli - Pick 15, 2015 draft
Rance - Pick 18, 2007 draft
Caddy - Pick 7, 2010 draft (traded from Geelong in 2016)
Nankervis - Pick 35, 2013 draft (traded from Sydney in 2016)
McIntosh - Pick 31, 2012 draft

Biggest fallacy is that Richmond’s best 22 was this bunch of scrubbers. Most of them were first or second round picks, with a few decent third round picks. Then they happened to draft Bolton in 2016 and added Tom Lynch as an FA at the end of 2017.

Here’s Richmond’s scrubs:

Grimes - Pick 2, 2009 PSD
Lambert - Pick 46, 2014 Rookie Draft
Butler - Pick 67, 2014 Draft
Castagna - Pick 29, 2014 Rookie Draft
Short - Pick 11, 2014 Rookie Draft

If Butcher, Moore and Pittard had come on like they were suppose to, then perhaps we’d be having a different conversation. But they didn’t, so here we are.