Excuses vs Expectations

In elite sport, excuses don’t win premierships, standards do. That’s the clear difference between clubs that find a way and those that find a reason.

Port Adelaide under Ken Hinkley has become a case study in the latter. After 12 years in the job, with a list boasting multiple All-Australians and top-tier midfield talent, there is still no grand final appearance, let alone a flag. And this year, it’s not just the big games where the team has faltered. It’s the regular home-and-away losses too. Bigger, more frequent, and more alarming than ever before.

Hinkley makes comments like “sometimes it is about a little bit of luck”, or “we don’t blame injuries, but…” and “we don’t blame the list, but…” followed by exactly that, blame. He insists the club is “learning” but the same issues keep surfacing, and the losses keep getting worse. It’s hard to argue that genuine lessons are being learned when the performances suggest otherwise.

This is not just a list problem. It’s an expectation problem.

Just look at Collingwood. Before Craig McRae took over in 2022, critics were lining up to write off the Pies’ list. Too old, too thin, no forward line, midfield lacking depth. Sound familiar? Fast forward a few short years and McRae, with almost the exact same core group of players, delivered a premiership. He brought belief, structure, and accountability and he didn’t lean on excuses. He lifted expectations and the group rose with him.

That’s what real leadership looks like. It’s not about waiting for perfect conditions, it’s about building resilience, demanding more, and backing your players to perform.

Now compare that to Port Adelaide. The administration, the coaching group, the justifications. The club has become stuck in a holding pattern, content to talk around its underachievement rather than confront it.

Or look at St Kilda, perhaps the AFL’s greatest cautionary tale. Ross Lyon recently referred to the Gold Coast Suns, calling them the league’s “nepo baby,” gifted a dream run with draft picks and structural support. It was an excuse for the Saints lack of talent and lack of success. This from a club that after over 150 years in the competition, has only one premiership to show for it. In that time they have blown numerous chances and made many excuses. 

Sadly, Port Adelaide with a single AFL flag is beginning to resemble the Saints more than the ruthless powerhouse it once was. A club with a proud tradition, underpinned by a famous creed and yet, that spirit seems absent from the modern Port Adelaide.

While clubs like Collingwood prove what’s possible when belief and standards are restored, Port remains bogged down in a culture of deflection. The message from the top lacks urgency. The results reflect it.

Twelve years is more than enough time to get things right. There’s talent. There are resources. What’s missing is the willingness to demand more, and to act decisively when it’s not delivered.

That’s why the talk of an immediate hand over to Josh Carr needs to be more than just talk. It’s easy to fall back on the excuse that handing over immediately would “set Carr up for failure” or be “too disruptive mid-season.” But real football clubs, premiership clubs, don’t give themselves built-in excuses. They make the hard calls when they’re needed and demand performance in spite of the challenges, not because of them. 

If Carr is the future, then the future should start now. Give him the reins, give the players clarity, and give the club a head start for 2026 by setting the tone and game plan in 2025. And expect results. Port Adelaide should never be in the business of managing optics or feelings at the expense of results. Either make the change and demand success, or don’t, and stop pretending that excuses aren’t the new standard.

Until that changes, Port Adelaide risks becoming the very thing it once stood against. A club that talks about winning, but never quite gets around to it.