Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nIt marked the first time in 22 years Hinkley hasn\u2019t been at club land over a pre-season as he crosses over to the media.<\/p>\n
Speaking to foxfooty.com.au at this week\u2019s Kayo Sports AFL season launch event, Hinkley remains bullish that Port can still push for finals, despite many tipping the club to slide down to the ladder after nine wins in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m biased because I know the list so well,\u201d Hinkley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got a really favourable draw this year. It doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re going to win, but they\u2019ve got a favourable start.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a favourable start you can get some confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Port will be pushing in that top 10 bracket. Whether they can maximise and go higher than that, I\u2019m not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ken Hinkley departed Port Adelaide after 13 seasons (Photo by Sarah Reed\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Hinkley said back-t0-back premier Brisbane is still the \u201cbenchmark of the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thinks the Lions are in the box seat to become the third team this century and sixth side in league history to win three-straight premierships.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have an unbelievable list and it\u2019s only been strengthened, you bring Oscar Allen and Sam Draper in and another gun junior in Daniel Annable,\u201d Hinkley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re really talented, they\u2019ve got \u2018Kiddy\u2019 Coleman coming back.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that list is the one you\u2019ve got to beat if you\u2019re going to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roos defender in trouble after tackle | 00:36<\/p>\n
Hinkley suggested we could be set for an \u201call-Queensland\u201d grand final if the Suns can live up to expectations as another team he expects to be in the premiership mix.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some other really good young emerging lists as well, like Gold Coast. It could be an all-Queensland grand final if it went to plan with both these sides,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cFremantle is another good team, Geelong, clearly. I think Sydney will bounce back pretty big. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019ve got beat Brisbane if you\u2019re going to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Sydney, the Western Bulldogs are the other club Hinkley is tipping to rise from outside the finals last year and finish inside the top six.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree out of the last four years a team has come from 15th, 16th and 17th to make the top four \u2014 I don\u2019t think a side is going to come from the bottom four into the top four.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the Bulldogs and Sydney are both teams that could get up to the top six.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hinkley also predicted the 2026 season to throw up an \u201cunknown\u201d and new-age superstars to emerge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it going to be some of the rule changes? Is it going to be suspensions? Injuries? We\u2019ve seen some club already decimated,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s the next emerging superstar of the game? Sam Darcy has been spoken about, I think there\u2019s another couple of young players about to emerge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t write off Port Adelaide, says Ken Hinkley. The long-time Power coach and newest Fox Footy recruit for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,2347,63,689,55,639,684,11405,3237,69065,3429,249112,2105,2485,9130,11288,27709,7484,249084,677,15836,6082,249109,249111,701,16205,12105,11244,249110,145647,1124,85,698],"class_list":{"0":"post-493823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-august","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-australian-football-league","14":"tag-australianfootballleague","15":"tag-ben-cotton","16":"tag-box-seat","17":"tag-brisbane-lions","18":"tag-coaching-handover","19":"tag-daniel-annable","20":"tag-favourable-start","21":"tag-getty-images-inc","22":"tag-gold-coast","23":"tag-gold-coast-suns","24":"tag-grand-final","25":"tag-josh-carr","26":"tag-ken-hinkley","27":"tag-kicks-fiveafl","28":"tag-oceania","29":"tag-oscar-allen","30":"tag-port-adelaide","31":"tag-premiership-mix","32":"tag-quarter-time-speech","33":"tag-queensland","34":"tag-rule-changes","35":"tag-sam-darcy","36":"tag-sam-draper","37":"tag-season-launch-event","38":"tag-season-predictions","39":"tag-south-australia","40":"tag-sports","41":"tag-western-bulldogs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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