Ken Hinkley Biography

Warren Tredrea, who famously called Power coach Ken Hinkley's position "untenable", is elected to the Port Adelaide's board, beating Bruce Abernethy for the vacant spot on the board on a three-year term.

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch welcomed the result.

"Warren grew up at Port Adelaide, he played in an SANFL premiership as a teenager before becoming one of our greatest AFL players," Koch said.

"His career spanned 14 seasons and 255 games and of course he captained the club to our inaugural AFL premiership in 2004. It will be terrific to have his knowledge and experience around the board table."

Ken Hinkley will coach Port Adelaide until at least the end of 2025 after signing a new deal with the Power.

"I said it a couple of weeks ago, and I've said it many times before, I care deeply for this playing group and football club," Hinkley said.

"Not for one moment do I take coaching this great football club for granted."

Fresh from signing a new two-year contract to coach Port Adelaide, Ken Hinkley says there is no succession plan in place for Josh Carr to take the reigns as head coach of the Power.

"Josh is a really impressive young coach who at some stage will coach himself. I'd love nothing more about if it was at Port Adelaide at some stage but there's no succession plan in place, there's no end date," Hinkley explained.

"If you thought Josh was going to want and going to need a succession plan to commit to Port Adelaide Football Club, they don't know Josh well enough."

Ken Hinkley says Port Adelaide's club doctor made the right decision in allowing Aliir Aliir to return to the field after a nasty collision with teammate Lachie Jones in the Power's loss to the Crows at Adelaide Oval.

While Jones underwent a head impact assessment and was cleared of a concussion but ruled out with a migraine at half-time, Aliir wasn't put through a concussion test by veteran Power doctor Mark Fisher.

"Mark Fisher is an incredibly experienced doctor, and he makes the right decisions that he needs to make. The doctor made the right decisions based around both players. He was really, really clear and certain to me," Hinkley said after the game.

Jones was subsequently subbed out of the game after being assessed as having a migraine.

"Lachie didn't fail a concussion test, but he didn't come back on and we subbed him. In fact, he was subbed out with a migraine. He'd done the concussion test, and he passed the concussion test. That's about all I can give you," Hinkley explained.

Ken Hinkley dismisses Port Adelaide premiership skipper, and current media commentator, Warren Tredrea labelling his tenure as coach of the Power "untenable".

"I appreciate opinions, that's all I can do with them - they are opinions and I respect some opinions and I don't respect all opinions," Hinkley told reporters.

"But the reality is I have got a job to do right now. The club has been incredibly strong with the way we have handled this situation."

Ollie Wines defends Power coach Ken Hinkley, who is under growing pressure in the wake of a Showdown loss to the Crows.

This comes in the wake of former Port Adelaide premiership captain Warren Tredrea saying publicly that Hinkley's position at the club was "untenable".

"From a player's perspective, I certainly think it's unfair and it probably comes down to he's the single individual you can probably pick out," Wines said.

"We feel for him, but we understand we're a big part - a major part - of our inconsistency at the moment. As players, we have to get doing the right thing."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he will focus his energy on plotting a rise back up the ladder for the Power rather than his future as the coach enters his out-of-contract season in 2023.

"What I do know is that both (chairman) David (Koch) and myself, and the club, are very strong on what this season needs to be. It needs to be concentrated on the season as a whole and make decisions at the end of that season," Hinkley said.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he never wavered in his belief he would lead the Power into 2023 despite ongoing speculation about his future compounded by the Power's average form in 2022.

Club chairman David Koch confirmed in his regular TV spot on the Seven Network on Thursday night that Hinkley would see out his contract in 2023.

"I think there has been plenty of public support from the club (this year) ... it got a little bit lost in some conversations this week that certainly made it a little less clear, but it was very clear last night," Hinkley said of Koch's public comments.

Port Adelaide president David Koch is unwilling to guarantee Ken Hinkley's job as Port Adelaide coach for 2023 after the Power (8-12) slumped to 12th following a four-match losing run.

"It's not just about one individual person. It's the whole program. Turn it around or watch out," Koch told FIVEaa radio.

"This year will be the worst finish that we have had in the last 10 years and something has got to change, but that's a whole-of-program decision."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley dismisses whoever wrote 'Sack Hinkley' on a sign near Alberton.

The Power are two games and percentage outside the eight and are likely to miss the finals for the first time since 2019 after back-to-back preliminary finals appearances.

"I think it's a really poor thing to do, I think it's a really weak thing to do. It doesn't worry me, I move on with my day and I move on with my week and I prepare my team the best I possibly can," Hinkley said.

"Every football club has great passion in it but there's a line."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he's not surprised that Power supporters have been calling for his sacking after a winless opening three rounds for the club in 2022.

"I can certainly share their frustration. But I do know that I am going to, as is the club and everyone that works with me at the club, we're going to work as hard as we can to ease the frustration for them and for me and for the players," He said.

"Our responsibility is to work hard and get these results turned back around as quickly as we possibly can.

Ken Hinkley signs a two-year contract extension to remain as head coach of Port Adelaide until at least the end of 2023.

"I love everything this club stands for. We're embracing the challenge of delivering sustained success for our people. That is what I crave as a coach of this playing group. I want this for our players and I want this for our community," Hinkley said.

The AFL has announced 12 new life members will be inducted at its annual general meeting in March.

Among them are Jack Riewoldt, Shannon Hurn, Ken Hinkley, Travis Boak, Tom Hawkins, Marc Murphy, Harry Taylor, Justin Westhoff, and Matthew Clarke.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley wins the 2020 Monjon Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year award after guiding Port Adelaide to a preliminary final.

"I am very grateful, especially when you look at all the great coaches who have received this award in years gone by. Ultimately, though, this award is a team effort and a reflection upon an entire group at Port Adelaide," Hinkley said.

Power chairman David Koch has seemingly guaranteed Ken Hinkley his coaching position for 2021, despite a reported clause in his current contract requiring that the Power make the finals in 2020.

"As far as I'm concerned, Ken will be coaching next year because we're incredibly confident of the team that we've got now going forward," Koch told ABC radio.

"Because there's that trigger there doesn't mean it will be triggered at all. If there's a clause there it just means that there's an opportunity if the club agrees and wants to do it.

"The work that he's particularly done in the last two years, in terms of building our list, we could not be happier with. And so I'm extremely confident that Ken will be coaching next year."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is leaving no stone unturned in his quest to return the Power to the finals, travelling halfway around the world to learn from England rugby union coach Eddie Jones on the eve of the season.

Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas believes Ken Hinkley is the right man to lead the club to its next premiership.

"Can we foresee a Ken Hinkley-run football program delivering a premiership model? Absolutely," Thomas said.

"We're a long way from where we want to be ultimately. But I think our trajectory is good ... the landscape is significantly different as we end 2019 than it was when we ended 2018 and Ken has to take a lot of credit for that."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he has no doubt he'll remain in the top job in 2020 after the Power failed to make the finals in 2019.

Hinkley's position has come under external pressure after it was revealed he had a clause for the final year of his contract in 2021.

"I'm really optimistic about working with the group for the continuation of the journey, there's no problems with that at all," Hinkley said.

"I've got their (the board's) support, I've got nothing to worry about as far as that goes, but from the reporting that goes on, you do get some self-doubt.

"When you get players and key personnel at your football club supporting you and wrapping their arms around you and engaging in what they want and what they need, you just know you're on the right path and you're the right person to help on that path."

Power coach Ken Hinkley not making the finals in the immediate future could cost him his job based on clauses in his contract.

"If we don't make finals, I won't be the coach of the football club in the near future," Hinkley said.

"That's what we should be and that's what we set out to be. I'm very comfortable I'll fulfill the entire part of my contract and possibly more if that's what we can do as a football club."

The Power look set to miss finals in 2018, barring a miracle, despite having had a 11-4 record after 15 games earlier in the year.

However, Port Adelaide president David Koch says coach Ken Hinkley's position is still safe.

"I think Ken is the best coach for the Port Adelaide Football Club," Koch said.

"At 11-4, Ken was seen as a superhero. Then everyone changes their mind so quickly.

"That is the brutality of the AFL at the moment, it is such a finely-tuned competition."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is left fuming after Crows forward Josh Jenkins was paid a contentious goal late in Showdown 45 that put the Crows back in front on their way to a three-point victory at Adelaide Oval.

The AFL backed the decision to approve Jenkins' match-winning goal, saying there was "no clear evidence beyond reasonable doubt" to overturn the goal umpire's original call.

"My grandma raised me not to tell fibs. I think it hit the post but I'm pretty happy that they didn't think so," Jenkins admitted after the match.

Hinkley, however, blasted the AFL's score review system for the decision.

"To deal with that last moment, where the player acknowledges it's hit the post and the AFL, in a billion-dollar industry, can wreck seasons for football clubs," Hinkley said.

"If I was the AFL, I'd be embarrassed and disappointed in an industry that's so important to so many people.

"The technology should have made sure this monumental mistake in a football season shouldn't have appeared."

Elation, pride and some bottled-up frustration prompted some entertaining celebrations from Ken Hinkley after the Power's thrilling win in Showdown 44.

A pumped-up Port Adelaide coach signalled 0-5 with his hands, signalling the end of the Crows' dominance over his side in recent seasons.

"I was sick of 0-5 and the team was sick of 0-5. It was a bit too silly wasn't it by me but that's the emotion of this game sometimes," Hinkley said.

"You trust them, you believe in them and you want them to do well, that's all I care about.

"They try bloody hard every week and 0-5 just comes about sometimes."

Ken Hinkley re-signs a three-year contract extension to remain as head coach of the Power until 2021.

Hinkley admitted he reassessed where he was at when Gold Coast made an approach to his manager to take on the vacant senior coaching role with the Suns.

"It was just to double check with myself and my family, where am I at with this, can I continue on, am I the right person?" Hinkley said.

"To be the right person, you have to have an enormous amount of energy, and that's the question I have to be sure of myself, and I have that amount of energy and I am the right person.

"I've always said, what we have going is unbelievable as a group of players between coaches and the football club.

"I needed to keep that going."

Gold Coast has made contact with Ken Hinkley's manager Peter Blucher, sounding out the contracted Port Adelaide coach for its coaching vacancy.

Port Adelaide is on the record insisting it won't let Hinkley out of his contract, and has indicated it wouldn't take kindly to the Suns contacting the Power coach directly.

Port CEO Keith Thomas says the club will be working towards a contract extension soon for coach Ken Hinkley.

"We just decided at some point through the year that we'd wait until after the season, which is where we are now," Thomas said.

"We'll get to that pretty quickly. I'm pretty relaxed about it. Ken is absolutely committed to this group and the program we're on."

Power coach Ken Hinkley says he is not shying away from Port Adelaide chairman David Koch's bold declaration that the club must make finals in 2017.

"He [Koch] is only saying what a lot of people are thinking. He is probably a bit more direct but I don't think it is a big issue for us," Hinkley said.

"Let's understand the business. It's a pressure industry. It's performance based. It's all about winning and losing and we know there is a consequence from all of that."

Port Adelaide list manager Jason Cripps has shot down suggestions coach Ken Hinkley and himself are poles apart on the direction of the football club.

"We've got a list management committee of which Ken and I are a part of," Cripps said.

"When we walk out the door, we're very clearly on the one page with what we need to do and that's no different between Ken and I. We have a great relationship.

"Yes, we don't see eye to eye on everything, but we have robust discussions and we work closely together to try and improve our list."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says the Power are a fair way off from being a great side and that he takes responsibility for their current state.

"I take major responsibility, that's my job – I'm responsible for the team performance and I don't shy away from that," Hinkley said.

"No one takes more responsibility at this football club than me and that's the way it should be.

"It's about where we started, it's about being team first and it's about being a defensive team and it's about being really hard to play against

"They're the things we're going to get back … we're a middle-of-the-road team, we don't want to be a middle-of-the-road team, we expect to be a top-of-the-ladder team.

"We're so far off that at the moment, we've got a lot of work to do."

Ken Hinkley extends his contract as coach of Port Adelaide until the end of 2018.

"People in footy understand that loyalty is important and Ken's a very loyal person, success is important and we're getting a little bit of that at the moment," Power CEO Keith Thomas said.

"We really just wanted to set a platform for the next four or five years.

"With this playing group and this coaching group that's probably where they're at; the next four or five years is the time it's going to take to probably maximize this group."

Hinkley had another two years remaining on his initial contract but both he and Thomas said the move to extend it further aided the club's pursuit for stability, which they believed was crucial for success.

"It's the secret you need for success. You have to have the right people and then you have to back them in, and I think our club's been able to do that," Hinkley said.

"There was no need to worry about losing me, I'm very happy, obviously, at Port Adelaide.

"It just feels like a part of what I am and what my family are. The suburban Port Adelaide suits the country Hinkley family."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has thrown his support behind a cap on football department spending, claiming it would help level the playing field.

"I think [a cap] would certainly make it a much [more] level playing field," Hinkley said.

"There's some parts of the game where you think there's an advantage here and there's an advantage there but really that's for the AFL to decide.

"Obviously, we'd just like a nice, level playing field as best we can."

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he understands Alan Richardson's decision to leave his role at the Power to become senior coach of St Kilda.

"I lived almost the exact scenario about 14 months ago so I know what he was dealing with," Hinkley said.

"At some point the level of interest goes up in you from the club looking and all of a sudden the call comes through that 'hey this is really serious now – this is something that if you really want to do this, you have to be prepared to go for it.'

"Imagine me of all people saying you can't chase your dream. He clearly wanted to coach in his own right at some stage."

Port coach Ken Hinkley's remarkable first season with Port Adelaide has been acknowledged by his peers, with the Power mastermind named the AFL Coaches Association's senior coach of the year.

Hinkley received the award, which is named in honour of coaching icon Allan Jeans, after steering Port Adelaide from 14th in 2012 to a remarkable finals win this season.

"There was a bit of a story for me before I got the opportunity to coach, and to have that opportunity was great," Hinkley said after accepting his award.

"It's incredibly humbling for me, and the opportunity to coach is something I was gifted by the Port Adelaide Football Club.

"We just want to make sure we set ourselves on the path to hopefully establishing ourselves as one of the great sides of the competition."

The AFL has given permission for Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley to speak with his team via mobile phone during Saturday's clash against North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena.

The Power coach was admitted to hospital on Wednesday night after complaining of severe back pain. Hinkley received medical advice on Thursday, urging him not to travel to Hobart.

Stand-in coach Alan Richardson will take charge of the unbeaten side, with Hinkley remaining in Adelaide to recover from the virus.

Kane Cornes has returned to some of the best form of his career and credits new coach Ken Hinkley for this.

"He challenged me more so than any coach has ever challenged me before in terms of improving my game and the way he wants me to play … he coming in has been the best thing that's happened to me for a while," Cornes said about Hinkley.

"The way he wanted me to use the ball was a little bit different, he wanted me to be pretty brave with the ball and hit some kicks where in the past I probably wouldn't have.

"He just wanted me to bring a bit more of an attacking flair to my game and I think it's been paying off."

Port Adelaide have started the season with 3 wins on the trot under coach Ken Hinkley and Gold Coast Sun Jarrod Harbrow says he isn't surprised after Hinkley served as an assistant coach at the Suns last year.

"They've jumped out of the blocks firing, they're in good form, the players are happy and they look like they understand what Kenny wants and expects of them," Harbrow said.

"He's definitely brought an element to the club that's working. They look strong and are super competitive"

Justin Westhoff says coach Ken Hinkley's 'no favourites' policy is working for the Power.

"Ken has come in and Alan Richardson as well, with no excuses, everyone's playing on their own merit and [there's no] difference between a first-game guy and a 200-game guy," Westhoff said.

"There's no difference to how they're treated and that's probably something we've struggled with in the past … everyone's jumped on board.

"They've just brought in a no-holds-barred attitude, which I think we needed."

Port Adelaide confirm the signing of Gold Coast assistant Ken Hinkley as their new senior coach - putting an end to a 62 day process.

Ken Hinkley reveals his motivation for leaving Geelong for the Gold Coast.

"For me the next challenge in coaching was understanding that I'm at a stage in my coaching career where I went for the Richmond job and just missed out on that," Hinkley said.

"I thought for me to develop more as a coach was to go back and have an opportunity to work with some young kids, and certainly the Gold Coast provides you with that."

Geelong assistant coach Ken Hinkley is looking forward to the challenge of working with the Gold Coast's young list after accepting a position as assistant coach up north.

"In the current system a club gets about two to three young players a year to work with, so it's a coach's dream to be able to work with such a large group and hopefully help them develop into a great AFL team and club," Hinkley said.

"The Gold Coast Football Club is an opportunity which doesn't come along very often, and to help build a competitive team and a culture of success is something I can't wait to get involved in."

Geelong assistant Ken Hinkley emerges as one of the favourites to secure the Richmond coaching position.

Geelong coach Mark Thompson says that Hinkley will still see out his job as an assistant at the club through their finals series regardless of the outcome of Richmond's recruitment process.

"From all the rumours and reports, he's down to the last two or three, so if Kenny was lucky enough to get the job, we'd be very happy for him to stay here," Thompson said.

"We'd want him to stay here and finish off what he's done - he's a big part of what we do here, and if he was to leave, it would leave a massive hole and we don't want that, we want our team working as a group for as long as we last."