PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley was proud of his side’s ruthlessness against Essendon on Sunday evening, in a game that meant little in the scheme of the season.
Hinkley’s outfit demolished the Bombers at Marvel Stadium after blowing them away with a nine-goal blitz that stretched from late in the first quarter until mid-way through the third.
But with the game all but over at half time, Port Adelaide players continued to defend strongly and pour forward in waves in the 23.8 (146) to 9.8 (62) victory.
It was the club’s highest score and equal biggest win for the season, and Hinkley said with finals off the agenda, he asked the side to finish the season strongly.
“To be fair, we’ve had a pretty tough time over the last four or five weeks where we’ve played the absolute cream of the crop in the competition and we haven’t been able to get a result,” he said after the game.
“We’ve been really, really close and we haven’t been able to get the job done so it was good to come over here and play (at Marvel Stadium) for the first time this year and put a score on the board, which we think we’re capable of. We haven’t really done it that often so there were some good things out of that.
“There’s been times where we’ve played some pretty good footy in patches but not consistently and today was a pretty consistent performance.
“We were good enough and ruthless right to the end. 146 points in today’s game is a big score.”
Hinkley’s side went into the game having lost four games in a row to finalists Melbourne, Geelong, Collingwood and Richmond, having slipped out of finals contention after consecutive preliminary finals.
It would have been easy for the players to switch off and plan their post-season holidays, but Hinkley said it was important that they turned up and fought the season out.
“When you’re challenged as much as we have been,” Hinkley explained. “And this year’s been a bloody tough year, not much has gone right and we’re a long long way from where we’d like to be – but to be able to put that performance up when there’s not much going on for us as far as the end result, it can be really challenging for a team and… I was really proud of the way they stuck together and they played for each other,”
Port Adelaide went into the game without a recognised ruck, as has been the case more often than not since lead ruckman Scott Lycett went down in Round 4 with a shoulder injury, and while it was comprehensively beaten 50-9 in hit-outs by Bombers big men Sam Draper and Nick Bryan it mattered little as the Power midfielders went to work.
In particular, former GWS player Jeremy Finlayson shouldered most of the ruck burden and won four clearances among his 25 disposals, and two goals to be among the best players on the ground.
“I thought Finlayson, as he has been since about round 10 in the ruck, he’s been a really important part for us,” Hinkley said of the 26-year-old who has been supporting his partner through a cancer diagnosis.
“We’ve had the best version of Jeremy at our footy club in his footy career. I think he’s been an outstanding acquisition with everything he’s gone through off the field and to deliver what he has here, he’s done what we hoped he could do and more.
“He’s played at a really high level and credit where credit is due, he’s a better footballer.”
Port will now finish its season against cross-town rival Adelaide in a Saturday night Showdown LII, having staved off any threat of the Crows finishing higher on the ladder but no less keen to finish the season with a win.
“Showdowns are always big in Adelaide,” Hinkley said. “It doesn’t matter when we play, how we play and who is where on the ladder.
“Outside of us being able to play finals and being successful, Showdowns are critically important.
“They beat us with a kick after the siren last time. It really hurt. We’d like to make sure that doesn’t happen again but we’ll have to play at our best because Showdowns demand that.”
