PORT Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley hasn't been living under a rock for the past week; he's heard himself labelled 'the last man standing' in the club's drawn out search for a new coach.
But on Monday afternoon, inside the Alan Scott Headquarters where Hinkley was officially appointed senior coach of the Power on a four-year deal, he described himself as the "right man standing".
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After a lengthy and at times frustrating process, the Power settled on Hinkley, who has been an assistant at Gold Coast for the past two seasons after previous stints at St Kilda and Geelong.
Hinkley said he was content with the process in which he was installed as Port's fourth AFL coach, claiming he was made a part of talks from very early on in proceedings.
"I know that the club went through a process…it was a long process…but I was involved very early on in that, very early stages of that I had a conversation with Keith (Thomas)," Hinkley said.
"Sometimes these things happen and there is a reason for some people to come out on top at the right time and people have said 'last man standing', I've heard those comments, maybe I was the right man standing."
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Far from being Port's last and only option left to coach the side, Hinkley spoke with supreme self-belief, pointing to his CV as proof he knew what was needed to turn the Power around.
"I have great confidence in what I do," he said.
"I've been involved with something like six premierships and other success and just recently been at the Gold Coast Suns I've seen a blank canvas and the way it takes to build and it takes time to build, but I understand what it takes to be successful."
Hinkley was at Geelong at the same time as Adelaide's outstanding first-year coach Brenton Sanderson.
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Sanderson has previously talked about the "recipe of success" learnt in Geelong and Hinkley revealed the ingredients he hoped could turn the Power back into a finals threat.
"It think it's a pretty simple recipe that you want: it's stability, it's confidence in what you do and it's trust," he said.
"The boys need to start to feel like the direction is going up and that's what we're about, we want to create the environment that creates belief.
"Anyone that plays for the Port Adelaide Football Club needs to believe in where we're going - that's a real key ingredient to our success."
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Hinkley was said to be circumspect about nominating for the head coaching gig, after narrowly missing out on the St Kilda, Geelong and Richmond jobs in recent seasons.
But the Port hierarchy persuaded him to throw his hat in the ring and assured him the job was his if he wanted it.
The 46-year-old said he was under no illusions as to the size of the challenge that lay ahead, but insisted the challenge added to his excitement in returning the Power to the top.
He also denied the playing list needed to be overhauled.
"This club's in a renewal stage - there's no doubt about that," he said.
"We know what we've got to do and we know where we've got to go… the list has been built really well, there's no problems, we need to continue that build.
"I was lucky enough to be a part of the Geelong Football Club at a time when they built their club back to where it was and is today, one of the power clubs of the competition.
"The Sydney Football Club and the Geelong Football Clubs are the ones that people look at now and think 'that's what we want to be like'."
