PORT ADELAIDE coach Ken Hinkley has vented his frustration at his side’s inconsistency, labelling it “untrustworthy” after losing to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
The Power hasn’t recorded back to back victories since rounds 5 and 6, this time going down by 25 points to a fierce Bulldogs outfit which out-pressured and out-tackled it throughout a horribly wet night at Adelaide Oval.
After the game Hinkley gave an honest assessment of his side’s 2019 campaign.
“As much as we say we’re inconsistent, we’re pretty consistent in what we deliver,” he remarked.
“We can’t be reliable when we need to be reliable as a football team.
“I’m sure everyone gets annoyed at it that supports Port, but we’re equally annoyed about it ourselves.
“We beat a great side last week, and not discrediting the Bulldogs because they outplayed us for the most part in the game but we were in a position where we should come here and play strong footy and back it up but we were unable to do it.
“It’s an inconsistent team, it’s unreliable and I know the word is untrustworthy and that is probably what we are.”
The Dogs had a strong opening thanks to the inside domination of Marcus Bontempelli and were cleaner and more efficient in the wet to set up a three-goal half time lead.
The Power mounted a charge in the third quarter and closed to within three points but the Bulldogs nailed three quick goals after a turnover on half back which killed off the home side’s momentum.
Port dominated the inside 50 count – 69 to 49 – and had 21 more contested possessions, but could only manage five majors for the night.
"There's one stat we're not good at, and that's efficiency," Hinkley said.
"Until we fix efficiency, we'll always put ourselves in this position.
"We work hard at efficiency, we don’t not, but so far we continue to deliver in the same spots.
“We dominated two quarters in the middle and we just couldn’t score.
“The conditions made it bloody hard to score, there’s no secret about that, but we had more opportunities to score more than we did and they were able to score.”
The Power next faces cross-town rival Adelaide in Showdown 47 with both teams coming off losses.
Hinkley said he expected a big response from his players.
"I wouldn't have thought they’d have any trouble getting up for the game," he said.
"That's what Showdowns are about.
"When you're in this town, they're big games. Both teams are going to be prickly so we look forward to it."
