{"id":592570,"date":"2026-04-08T03:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T03:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592570\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T03:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T03:08:11","slug":"ken-hinkley-says-afl-shamed-him-over-controversial-fine-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592570\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Hinkley says AFL ‘shamed’ him over controversial fine in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ex-Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he was “shamed” and exploited by the AFL<\/a> over his controversial $20,000 fine.<\/p>\n

Hinkley was slapped with the sanction for conduct unbecoming in 2024 for his post-match sledging of Hawthorn players after a semifinal.<\/p>\n

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Hinkley had overseen the Power’s three-point win and, as players left Adelaide Oval, verbally clashed with some Hawks while directing an aeroplane gesture at Jack Ginnivan.<\/p>\n

The AFL then used Hinkley’s theatrics in 2025 to promote a re-match of Port and Hawthorn in that season’s Gather Round.<\/p>\n

“The AFL decided to impose a fine on me and shame me and I was pretty unforgiving of that to be honest,” Hinkley told SEN radio on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“I just didn’t think there was an enormous amount of care in their way of treating me through that journey.”<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt exploited, Hinkley replied: “Yeah, I did.<\/p>\n

Ken Hinkley is seen at his final game in charge of Port Adelaide in 2025.\u00a0Sarah Reed\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“I made the mistake, I done (sic) the crime … and I owned that and talked about that quite openly straight afterwards and was embarrassed by my own behaviour,” he said.<\/p>\n

“… But then to promote it on their website leading into Gather Round with me and Hawthorn and Ginni (Ginnivan) – who luckily enough, he took it in the right way – it felt a little bit misused if you’re making a moral stand on what I should and shouldn’t be allowed to do. That’s just the way I felt.”<\/p>\n

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Hinkley suggested his fine could have been payback for other incidents during his 13-year stint as Port coach which ceased at the end of last season.<\/p>\n

“They (the AFL) had every right to do what they did,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I just felt like there was a little bit extra in it for some reason.<\/p>\n

“I probably caused them some problems over the journey in different ways, but maybe this was their chance to clip me properly, I don’t know.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he was “shamed” and exploited by the AFL over his controversial $20,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-592570","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-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592570","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=592570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}