{"id":592686,"date":"2026-04-08T04:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592686\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T04:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:33:08","slug":"ken-hinkley-says-he-was-shamed-and-exploited-by-afl-over-controversial-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592686\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Hinkley says he was shamed and exploited by AFL over controversial fine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ex-Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he was “shamed” and exploited by the AFL 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

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 rematch 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.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I made the mistake, I done (sic) the crime \u2026 and I owned that and talked about that quite openly straight afterwards and was embarrassed by my own behaviour,” he said.<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n

“But then to promote it on their website leading into Gather Round with me and Hawthorn and Ginni [Ginnivan] \u2014 who luckily enough, he took it in the right way \u2014 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

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

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