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The Power won nine games in 2025 but were blown out by 12+ goals on five occasions and finished 13th on the ladder as the coaching handover from Hinkley was completed.<\/p>\n
Despite that result, and an extremely quiet off-season in which the Power effectively ignored the draft and trade period, the always positive Koch declared a finals return was their pass mark in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always finals. We banned the word rebuild. Rebuild is an excuse for failure,\u201d Koch told Seven.<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh knows that we\u2019re a club that always wants to contend for finals, like so many of the other great AFL clubs – we should be no different.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s always the pass mark, but you\u2019ve got to put the processes in place for success. But we\u2019ve got to put in the behaviours and the processes each and every day at training and every game to achieve the dream and the pass mark to make finals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinkley, in response, quipped on SEN\u2019s Sportsday: \u201cI\u2019ve heard that before\u201d.<\/p>\n
Josh Carr and Ken Hinkley during the 2025 AFL Round 24 match between the Port Adelaide Power and the Gold Coast Suns at Adelaide Oval on August 22, 2025 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by James Elsby\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Now working in the media, including as a Fox Footy commentator, Hinkley argued there were more nuanced ways to determine whether a season was successful than the binary of finals-or-bust.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid\u2019s intent is always great, and his willingness to talk up Port Adelaide and their opportunities and their chances is what you do want,\u201d Hinkley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just sometimes, you would just – borderline a little bit too far in Josh\u2019s first year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always at Port, and Port will always expect, to be part of the back end of the season and what you need to do initially is just win as many games as you can \u2026 and get there and see if you\u2019re part of the finals.<\/p>\n