Ken Hinkley’s future as Port Adelaide’s head coach is untenable amid a growing disconnect between the club and its fans, Power great Warren Tredrea says.
Tredrea, the only man to captain Port to an AFL premiership, believes Hinkley will not be reappointed next season.
Hinkley falls off-contract at the end of this season, his 11th as Port’s coach. The club and coach have put any negotiations on hold until at least August.
“There is an element of fans’ disconnect with their board and with their coach,” Tredrea told the Big Deal podcast on Monday. “And I just look where Ken Hinkley sits. He has been there for 10 years, he is contracted until the end of the year.
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“It looks, albeit in round three, it just looks untenable. I get it is early in the season. But it is, ‘You know what, he is not going to be there in 2024’. I can’t see it.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
“If he does, well then I will be the first to say ‘well done’. But right now it just looks untenable.”
Port missed last year’s playoffs after being beaten in consecutive preliminary finals in 2020 and 2021.
This season, they have one win and two losses after conceding 39 goals in consecutive defeats to Collingwood and arch-rivals Adelaide.
Tredrea in January bid to join the club’s board but was blocked by president David Koch.
Koch said at the time he was unwilling to make a so-called “captain’s call” and appoint Tredrea ahead of board elections in December.
Tredrea said he understood if critics linked his Monday comments with his board bid. “But what I am going to say is that I have never been more disconnected from my club,” he said.
Tredrea said many Port fans were tired of the club “constantly talking up stuff” but failing to deliver on-field.
“There is a disconnect between (the club) and their members,” he said. “And it just doesn’t seem like they are on the same page because (the fans) are sick of the promises and they want to see action on the field.
Tredrea led the Power to victory in the 2004 grand final as acting captain in the absence of regular skipper Matthew Primus, who was injured. He remains the club’s all-time leading goalkicker with 548 goals from 255 games between 1997 and 2010.
Ugle-Hagan’s racism reaction ‘iconic’: Beveridge
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says he needed just one glance at a photo of Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s powerful stance against racism to know it had been an “iconic night” for his rising star forward.
Ugle-Hagan kicked the opening goal of the Bulldogs’ win against the Brisbane Lions before turning to the crowd, lifting his jumper and pointing to his skin in a recreation of Indigenous champion Nicky Winmar’s famous pose from 30 years earlier.
Beveridge on Monday doubled down on his gushing praise of the 20-year-old, who bounced back from the racial abuse he received during the Bulldogs’ loss to St Kilda the previous week with an exhilarating five-goal haul against the Lions.
“Right then, when you look at the photo, you realise it’s been … an iconic night for Marra (Ugle-Hagan) and the mob,” Beveridge told Fox Footy.
“He’s absolutely shown the way from a performance perspective, and then been willing to make a real statement … like Nicky did 30 years ago.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan of the Western Bulldogs points to his skin as he celebrates kicking a goal. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
“To say, ‘Hey, it’s not good enough … I’m a young First Nations man and I’m not going to put up with it’. I love that.
“I loved it when he went over and embraced his mates in the crowd at the end, which is probably the opposite feeling of what he had the week before.”
Beveridge was just as impressed with how Ugle-Hagan handled himself off the field, fronting up to a press conference with his coach and speaking “from the heart” about what he’d had to deal with.
“You could step back and just listen to him and hope some of his words and his statements and his expressions would have an impact on people,” Beveridge said.
“I was asked whether I was proud of him. Everyone was proud of him and everyone has a right to be proud of him during those moments.
“(He’s) a beautiful young man who’s put up with a lot … that drains your energy, so to be so clutch he only had five kicks, and kick five goals, was amazing.
“It’s kind of like the Dreamtime really shone down on him.”
Injury-hit Eagles call in the cavalry for Demons clash
West Coast are facing a long stint without Jamie Cripps and Jeremy McGovern as they continue to feel the injury impact of their brutal western derby defeat to Fremantle.
Cripps will head for surgery on his broken left ankle and is looking at four months of recovery, while coach Adam Simpson said McGovern’s absence with an injured left hamstring would also be “reasonably long-term”. The Eagles could be forced to make up to seven changes for Sunday’s AFL clash with Melbourne at Optus Stadium.
Along with Cripps and McGovern, West Coast suffered injuries to Luke Shuey (hamstring), Liam Ryan (leg), Campbell Chesser (knee), Oscar Allen and Alex Witherden (concussion) during their 41-point loss to Fremantle at the weekend.
Simpson could not hide his dismay at the latest injury news. “(Cripps) will be out for most if not all of the year, which is really unfortunate,” he told Fox Footy on Monday night.
“He had a cracking pre-season and is a very important player for us. McGovern, there’s some scans waiting but that looks like it’s going to be a reasonably long-term situation.”
In better news for the Eagles, the 32-year-old Shuey – who has a history of soft-tissue problems – is not expected to be sidelined for too long with his hamstring injury.
“(Shuey) has worked so hard on being the best version he can be with his preparation and how diligent he’s been with his body,” Simpson said.
“It is a minor one … and that’s the killer for us, because everything he does with his hamstrings are one or two-week injuries that are barely soft tissue.
“He’s hoping it’s a short turnaround and we just kept backing him in and keep trying.”
Elliot Yeo would be the ideal replacement for Shuey if he can show he has overcome the calf injury he suffered on the eve of the season.
Defender Harry Edwards looms as the likely replacement for McGovern, while forward Jack Petruccelle booted four goals in a WAFL practice game last week and is set to replace Cripps.
Defender Josh Rotham, who made his WAFL return last week after recovering from a broken arm, is another in the selection mix, along with Greg Clark, Jai Culley, Connor West, Brady Hough, Rhett Bazzo and Xavier O’Neill.
Ruckman Nic Naitanui (achilles) is unlikely to be available until close to the middle of the season.
The Roarhttps://https://ift.tt/qoUcSAj News: Hinkley’s position untenable – Tredrea, Beveridge lauds ‘iconic’ Ugle-Hagan response, Eagles in a flap
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