Opinion I've lost my faith in Ken Hinkley

[Janus]

This 'bedding in' the new game plan has me perplexed, especially as the women's teams seem to have been able to bed in their game plans in a matter of a few weeks.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I'm fine with some teething issues if I see a genuine change in gameplan. That's a positive thing to hear.

 

[DaTBird187]

This 'bedding in' the new game plan has me perplexed, especially as the women's teams seem to have been able to bed in their game plans in a matter of a few weeks.

Isn't their game plan just to make sure the ball hits the foot?

 

[tribey]

This 'bedding in' the new game plan has me perplexed, especially as the women's teams seem to have been able to bed in their game plans in a matter of a few weeks.

:?

 

[Pedro59]

Better but less successful.

He came in with a unique gameplan that was difficult to counter, and almost jagged a flag with it before people figured out how to negate it.

The measure of him as a coach will be how he handles that. So far not particularly well.

But have they really 'found us out?'

Or did other teams and a few losses just make us think that and then we over compensated with shite and changed too much what was working.

I have been harping on about our kick outs for awhile on here

In particular the lack of marks from our kickouts which, if taken, would keep our momentum flowing nicely and this particular area alone I believe would have got us into finals last year
At no stage would this fast option just be a punt into play and never should have been

So I believe there should be three options

a short fast take away that ends up ,in a mark ( because the whole team knows what is going on)

a long fast kick to a tall good mark that mostly ends in a mark ( because the whole team knows what is going on )

a safe kick to the wings ( 50/50 ball but gee it would be great to a have tredders and/or and Brendon Lade going for these ones to up the percentage)


These are the demoralising momentum killing balls that come straight back in after a kickout/clearance

This is the reason that we work so hard to get our ball into their F50

Improve just this one part of our game and we win all those games we lost by a goal or two IMO

Wins breed wins
Wins breed confidence

 

[OneGreatClub]

Ok, Brisbane seem to be doing ok with a new coach and game plan. Crers last year too.

 

[edgie]

Better but less successful.

He came in with a unique gameplan that was difficult to counter, and almost jagged a flag with it before people figured out how to negate it.

The measure of him as a coach will be how he handles that. So far not particularly well.

You don't think he jumped the gun and changed it prematurely? We definitely went in to 2015 having tweaked things from the 2014 gameplan, which I reckon was the last thing we need to address, after skills and selections.

Sent from mTalk

 

[edgie]

Ok, Brisbane seem to be doing ok with a new coach and game plan. Crers last year too.

Brisbane to early to call, and crows was just natural progression of the Walsh plan which itself wasn't far removed from Sandos.

Sent from mTalk

 

[OneGreatClub]

Brisbane to early to call, and crows was just natural progression of the Walsh plan which itself wasn't far removed from Sandos.

Sent from mTalk

I doubt ours is too far removed from our previous one is my point

 

[El_Scorcho]

I doubt ours is too far removed from our previous one is my point

You're right, it's not, but we did appear to go all-in with the slingshot to the detriment of any other form of ball movement.

It just requires effort, planning and skill execution. In general I think our players will hit targets when they are playing to a short pass system where they know where the leads are coming from. I really, really hope we've worked on a system like that this preseason

 

[rogerjames]

Plan B requires lots of precise short kicking. We've built a team full of athletes with running capabilities first, kicking skills second. Cam O'Shea is the poster boy but there are many others in this category. That's why when plan A is in full motion we look near on unbeatable but when forced into plan B we look average to poor.

We need to change the personnel or we'll keep getting the same results.

I think our running capacity has diminished significantly since 2014. White has hardly been sighted since and will have slowed down if he can make it onto the park. A fit Polec will help. But we have plenty of slow players and particularly in our midfield which is a major issue with this side. Boak and Hartlett at this stage in their careers should be top line midfielders but they're pedestrian. Ebert is not the player he was when he first arrived and offered so much drive. This is killing the team imo.

 

[Duck Farmer]

I've said this for years - the club needs a team of full-time sports psychologists.

A player is a body and a mind - if either one is off, they don't perform.

We surround them all with cutting edge talent and technology to take care of the body. They have Burgo, his assistants, Mladen, the wrestling guy, physios, doctors, trainers, weights rooms, machines, tanks, etc etc, to take care of the body side.

But what do they surround them with to take care of the mental side? To train them in techniques to maintain focus when the chips are down ... to shut out surrounding noise and distractions when shooting for goal ...... to harness the full power of the brain's circuitry to nail that shot ..... to deal with scoreboard pressure in a controlled way .... to maintain the upper mental hand .... to deal with all the stresses of modern professional sport and the immense pressure that the club community exerts on them either directly or in an implied manner?

They are just told to harden the **** up. There's a massive discrepancy between the attention we pay to their bodies and to their minds. These days, most squads are very similar in their fitness, strength and so on. The successful teams are always mentally tough and mentally skilled. It's about ****ing time we took care of that side too. Only the very top coaches can take care of it on their own, and Ken has made it pretty clear he is not in that category.

Just imagine the miracles Burgo could work if we redirect the Premiership Fund towards a Frontal Lobe Holocaust Machine.

 

[rogerjames]

Well to me yes. Maybe not you.

Of course We would all love to see results. But nothing wrong with saying what we produced was not acceptable.

I have seen the same stuff over the years so it's at a point where they either believe this is acceptable or they either believe that the people who buy memberships are going to keep eating these lines.

Questions over the fall from grace from the team and individuals and we wonder why.

Well Kochie said that and our captain and players were very unhappy about it

 

[rogerjames]

Don't get me wrong, he's hugely disappointing right now, and yes far overpaid for output. Doesn't make him Hartless.

I agree if he's bad in R1, drop (sack) for R2. Amongst about 5-10 others!

He was bad for first half of 2016 season (focussing on recent times) but was not dropped, similar to when Jonas wasn't dropped although that was worse. It sends all the wrong messages to both the power players and the maggie players who are waiting for an opportunity. I think Ken played the wrong card and will pay the ultimate price

 

[rogerjames]

Right, and about finding it within yourself to kick straight for goal when it seems the whole team has the yips.

To stay focused and confident when the run of play is against you.

To keep your head up when all around you are dropping theirs.

And so on...

And thats also leadership. VC, Mmm.

 

[Tibbs]

Just imagine the miracles Burgo could work if we redirect the Premiership Fund towards a Frontal Lobe Holocaust Machine.

I read that as .... "frontal Lobbe Holocaust machine."!!

 

[tribey]

He was bad for first half of 2016 season (focussing on recent times) but was not dropped, similar to when Jonas wasn't dropped although that was worse. It sends all the wrong messages to both the power players and the maggie players who are waiting for an opportunity. I think Ken played the wrong card and will pay the ultimate price

Hinkley dropping Polec for a lack of defensive effort/letting Stringer off the leash in Q4 of the Bulldogs loss (a move our cash-soaked brainstrust missed) yet he'd doubled down on O'Shea after the worst 10 minutes in the history of a Power uniform against Carlton was the end for any real or imagined standards.

Westhoff's first half against Freo was diabolical as well. What was it, 1 touch? Then he shinned a shot for goal from pointblank range early in the third that mercifully went through. All's well, etc.

When he clears out his desk he'll know he had multiple chances to try and shake up the group, both at the trade table where he refuses to participate and from week-to-week where he keeps letting senior players produce dog shit while scapegoating others.

 

[rogerjames]

Hinkley dropping Polec for a lack of defensive effort/letting Stringer off the leash in Q4 of the Bulldogs loss (a move our cash-soaked brainstrust missed) yet he'd doubled down on O'Shea after the worst 10 minutes in the history of a Power uniform against Carlton was the end for any real or imagined standards.

Westhoff's first half against Freo was diabolical as well. What was it, 1 touch? Then he shinned a shot for goal from pointblank range early in the third that mercifully went through. All's well, etc.

When he clears out his desk he'll know he had multiple chances to try and shake up the group, both at the trade table where he refuses to participate and from week-to-week where he keeps letting senior players produce dog shit while scapegoating others.

As much as I like Ken and think hes a good person I completely agree with this

 

[badbeats]

Ken is a good person. Good people don't necessarily make good coaches.

 

[Hammer#8]

This all comes back to a list management ethos that the club continues to stand by, being that select members of our playing group should counteract their poor form by getting more gametime at AFL level. This has happened with O'Shea, Hartlett, AhCee, Lobbe, Boak, Jonas and Polec throughout last season.

In some ways it's very professional. Letting a player work through their onfield issues for as long as necessary until they can get their mojo back and start delivering is a nice idea, it's a comfortable safeguard between the player and coach and a mark of confidence in the player. But it's effectively a gold pass system in disguise that's ignoring the good form of other players that we could be playing instead, or inadvertently allowing some players to know they don't have to perform since they'll always have a reserved spot waiting for them when and if their good form eventually comes back.

I think Hinkley is waiting and hoping that we return to the place we were before, but if we were ever going to capitalise on our 2014 season then it would have happened by now, it should have been 2015 or 2016 and now I fear we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Our 2017 pre-season has shown me all the indications that things haven't changed or improved. For example, our disposal efficiency last season was bottom six in the league. We have been failing to hit targets by hand and foot during both our pre-season games. Clean disposal is not something you hold back on as a footballer in a pre-season game, it's not like going hard at the contest which could cause an injury, if you can hit a target you do it, you don't wait until round 1 to showcase these basic skills. These same issues have pertained to other aspects of our game, like our forward 50 entries. The same deficiencies in our gameplan from last year have followed into this year.

I remember during 2014 that when we lost to the Kangaroos early in the season that most of us on here weren't particularly concerned about it. Yes it was a loss but it was the type of loss that most felt we could quickly recover from, slight tweaks in the gameplan and there's an immediate improvement to be had.

At present the club is in some ways waiting for 2017 to wrap-up to get a definitive answer on whether Hinkley is the man for the job. We all remain optimistic that we can make finals and give things a good shake-up but even the most hopeful of us would believe it's looking somewhat unlikely as improvements to other teams such as St Kilda, Fremantle or Melbourne will block our entry back into the top 8.

 

[PJ Power]

^ Agree that our hopes of making the finals are less likely to be realised by the considerable improvement other sides around us are already showing.

 

[PA88]

Everybody has seen the contrast between our team and the rest in the AFL, with some seeing similar in many games in the SANFL as well, and it doesn't look like we are achieving nor building towards success. I worry about young recruits showing talent and skills and then watching it wither away like it has with the experienced players. I judge that Hinkley is responsible for skills and the manner by which we play so my faith in him has waned.

I do not believe Hinkley ever had the right comprehension of what defines "Port Adelaide Footy". I'm so relieved that they stopped referring to it midway through last season. In our days of winning premierships I don't remember our coach and club blowing their own trumpets on every aspect of the club, the talking was done in the finals on the field.

Anyway, I want to know what others feel about Hinkley's judgement of Jonas because his judgement of Jonas would have resulted in Jonas receiving a 3 year deal. What are people's thoughts about Hinkley's judgement of Jonas?

 

[edgie]

Yes Tom

Sent from mTalk

 

[OneGreatClub]

Everybody has seen the contrast between our team and the rest in the AFL, with some seeing similar in many games in the SANFL as well, and it doesn't look like we are achieving nor building towards success. I worry about young recruits showing talent and skills and then watching it wither away like it has with the experienced players. I judge that Hinkley is responsible for skills and the manner by which we play so my faith in him has waned.

I do not believe Hinkley ever had the right comprehension of what defines "Port Adelaide Footy". I'm so relieved that they stopped referring to it midway through last season. In our days of winning premierships I don't remember our coach and club blowing their own trumpets on every aspect of the club, the talking was done in the finals on the field.

Anyway, I want to know what others feel about Hinkley's judgement of Jonas because his judgement of Jonas would have resulted in Jonas receiving a 3 year deal. What are people's thoughts about Hinkley's judgement of Jonas?

Can't you be a bit clearer? Is your question about Jonas and Hinkley's judgement of him?

 

[Duck Farmer]

This all comes back to a list management ethos that the club continues to stand by, being that select members of our playing group should counteract their poor form by getting more gametime at AFL level. This has happened with O'Shea, Hartlett, AhCee, Lobbe, Boak, Jonas and Polec throughout last season.

In some ways it's very professional. Letting a player work through their onfield issues for as long as necessary until they can get their mojo back and start delivering is a nice idea, it's a comfortable safeguard between the player and coach and a mark of confidence in the player. But it's effectively a gold pass system in disguise that's ignoring the good form of other players that we could be playing instead, or inadvertently allowing some players to know they don't have to perform since they'll always have a reserved spot waiting for them when and if their good form eventually comes back.

I think Hinkley is waiting and hoping that we return to the place we were before, but if we were ever going to capitalise on our 2014 season then it would have happened by now, it should have been 2015 or 2016 and now I fear we can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Our 2017 pre-season has shown me all the indications that things haven't changed or improved. For example, our disposal efficiency last season was bottom six in the league. We have been failing to hit targets by hand and foot during both our pre-season games. Clean disposal is not something you hold back on as a footballer in a pre-season game, it's not like going hard at the contest which could cause an injury, if you can hit a target you do it, you don't wait until round 1 to showcase these basic skills. These same issues have pertained to other aspects of our game, like our forward 50 entries. The same deficiencies in our gameplan from last year have followed into this year.

I remember during 2014 that when we lost to the Kangaroos early in the season that most of us on here weren't particularly concerned about it. Yes it was a loss but it was the type of loss that most felt we could quickly recover from, slight tweaks in the gameplan and there's an immediate improvement to be had.

At present the club is in some ways waiting for 2017 to wrap-up to get a definitive answer on whether Hinkley is the man for the job. We all remain optimistic that we can make finals and give things a good shake-up but even the most hopeful of us would believe it's looking somewhat unlikely as improvements to other teams such as St Kilda, Fremantle or Melbourne will block our entry back into the top 8.

Well reasoned post . I can't help but feel we're going into this season with a cargo cult mentality and hoping we'll get our 2014 mojo back rather than any informed adjustments to our system and structure to improve. In short, this coaching group doesn't look as if they're up to it.