As Ken Hinkley’s time winds down at Alberton Oval there will be a lot of discussion about what constitutes success in the AFL. Journalists who only think as far west as the Western Bulldogs will suggest that Port should be happy to be in their “national” competition and that just making finals around 50% of the time is a grand achievement for a “minnow” like Port. They will commend Ken’s minor round record and the usual strawman cry of “how dare they expect the same success as in the SANFL” will ring out.
The reality is that no Port members expect the same success as they achieved at SANFL. They expect the same drive for success (and the same accountability for lack of it), but not the 6 flags in a row like the 50s, or even the 7 in a decade like the 90s.
What they do want is for the club to strive to maintain its reputation as the most successful club in Australia. As such the members benchmark themselves not against expansion clubs like Gold Coast or GWS but against the most successful clubs in the AFL era like Hawthorn (5 flags), Geelong (4 flags) and West Coast (4 flags). In fact 10 clubs have won more premierships in the AFL era than Port, and of the clubs that have been in the AFL at least as long as Port, only 3 have won the same and only 2 have won less.
As we were reminded this week, it has been 20 years since Port held the AFL cup aloft, and as Amanda Vandstone so elegantly reminded the board, the West End premiership beers have well and truly gone stale. And with Ken Hinkley’s team so often failing in the big games, as has been shown in recent weeks against finals fancies Carlton, GWS and Brisbane, it doesn’t look like changing any time soon.
The club and their media lackeys really cannot complain about raised expectations when the CEO Mathew Richardson promised the fans “3 flags in 5 years” in their Chasing Greatness manifesto, the coach Ken Hinkley declared the list “the strongest playing list I’ve had” in 2023 and said “we have a really strong list… we’re optimistic we have improved enough that it will put us at the top of the ladder” at the start of 2024.
Whether you want to judge Hinkley reign against the clubs ethos of “existing to win premierships”, benchmark it against the best in the AFL or measure it against the statements of the coach and CEO themselves, it is clear that Hinkley’s reign has failed to meet expectations over a period of 12 years. And no one should be attacked for pointing out this simple fact.
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