Ken Hinkley would have noticed. The message was brutal.

Directly across Adelaide Oval, from the Port Adelaide senior coach’s elevated seat in the Bradman Stand, two lads wearing traditional black-and-white “prison bar” guernseys in the front row draped a sign over the fence before the start of the season-ending Showdown LII. – “SACK HINKLEY”.

They made their unequivocal statement while Port Adelaide was supposed to stand united in the minute before the first bounce with their “Never Tear Us Apart” anthem. Sometimes the greatest threats to club unity are inside the tent.

“I love their passion,” says Hinkley, careful to not make more enemies. “Yes, the buck stops with me. I am uncomfortable wearing it, but I have to, it’s my responsibility,” says Hinkley who has closed his 10th season as Port Adelaide’s AFL coach with the “Sack Hinkley” brigade noting he still has not delivered a flag, let alone a grand final appearance.

Sending a message on a Port Rd sign near the club’s Alberton headquarters. Photo: AFL

Hinkley once had these provocative lads wearing “In Ken We Trust” T-shirts. They marched as part of Kenny’s army of loyal fans from Federation Square to the MCG before AFL finals.

That was a decade ago. Port Adelaide was a basket case. It needed a saviour – more than one “messiah”, actually. The club was financially in ruin and at great risk of being rebranded with its AFL licence stripped of its Port Adelaide identity.

Hinkley as coach, Travis Boak as captain, television personality David Koch as president and Keith Thomas as chief executive were the new “pillars” at Alberton to start a revival at a club that declares “We Exist To Win Premierships”, and boldly stated a goal of winning three premierships from 2021-2025.

“Chasing Greatness” they called it. But the premiership drought – now a club record 18 years – continues, and the lads on the boundary fence want to chase Hinkley out of town.

Hinkley will start his 11th season as senior coach at Port Adelaide next year. His contract also will expire.

His critics note Hinkley has the record as the longest-serving AFL coach without a grand final appearance: 223 games (of which he has won 131, a 58 per cent strike rate). He took the dubious record this year from former North Melbourne coach and now AFL football chief Brad Scott (211 from 2010-2019).

The “Sack Hinkley” brigade have pulled apart game-by-game statistics to find Hinkley’s teams lose more often than win against top-eight rivals.

This season, Port Adelaide, which fell from a top-four side to rank 11th with a 10-12 win-loss record, had a 3-10 count against the 10 teams placed above it on the AFL ladder.

So how does Hinkley survive at a club that ruthlessly sacked its greatest player, Russell Ebert, at the end of the 1987 SANFL season to usher back premiership master John Cahill? It did the same to Geof Motley at the end of 1961, after he had completed the six-in-a-row premiership run in 1959 and lost consecutive preliminary finals in 1960 and 1961. His successor, Fos Williams, delivered a flag immediately.

Across the boulevard, the Adelaide Football Club has been more intolerant of its coaches, sacking Brenton Sanderson at the end of 2014 – less than 12 months after he signed a two-year contract extension – after the Crows failed to play finals in consecutive seasons. Same with Don Pyke at the end of 2019.

Is Port Adelaide, while under AFL financing, unable to break the contract with Hinkley – that carries a settlement fee of perhaps $600,000 – that would need to be approved by the AFL?

When Koch on his weekly television segment made an awkward confirmation of Hinkley’s right to coach Port Adelaide next season, the theme was: “Some will argue we should make a change based on our performance this season alone (10 wins and 12 losses with an 11th-place finish) and that Ken has never taken the team to a grand final.

“But we base decisions on all the information in front of us. We believe Ken gives us the best chance of successfully rebounding next season, of successfully attracting new talent and football department resources to make us better.”

Basically, Port Adelaide believes the football program at Alberton is sound. The fall from top-four side to also-ran, the club has concluded, was the result of injuries to critical players at the start of the season when the team made a 0-5 start.

“Most teams at 0-5,” says Hinkley, “would collapse, give it away. Our blokes kept at it.”

Most clubs would have their boards panic at 0-5. They would worry about attendances, a tough figure to measure today in the COVID era. Port Adelaide’s home crowds averaged at 29,693 this season, marginally down on the 30,266 figure from 2021. They fear members cutting up their cards. Yet, Port Adelaide’s membership hit a record this season – 63,240. And corporate backing has also risen.

More importantly, the Port Adelaide board was led through the “Hinkley question” by director Darren Cahill, the world-renowned tennis coach and former top-line player. His mid-season presentation on how to assess and support coaches – a profession known for paranoia – ensured Hinkley worked with unquestioned support at Alberton.

“And no-one is more unhappy (with the performances) than me,” says Hinkley. “And I have good reason to think we can bounce (back to finals contention). We are in a healthy position. The football program is strong. The playing group is getting better. We are on track to bounce. It’s easy to say that. But I am sure we are in a positive position.”

Photo: Michael Errey/InDaily

There is a paradox about Hinkley. While he sits in front of fans with “Sack Hinkley” banners, the 55-year-old former Fitzroy and Geelong player has been linked to every AFL coaching vacancy this season. First, Greater Western Sydney. One media personality said there was a deal in place to release Hinkley to that club if Port Adelaide failed to make finals. He did not make the interview list.

“I said a long time ago, maybe six or seven weeks ago, these (stories) are fascinating how you get linked (to other clubs),” Hinkley said.

Then, North Melbourne. Now, Essendon – in a potential repeat of 2007 when Mark Williams was offered a five-year deal worth $5 million to succeed Kevin Sheedy at Essendon, leading to then Port Adelaide president Greg Boulton to threaten legal action against his Victorian-based rivals.

Koch’s response to the prospect of Essendon trying to again take a contracted Port Adelaide coach – even one who draws “Sack Hinkley” banners – has been to say: “Tell (Essendon) they’re dreaming.

“Why would Ken (Hinkley) go to a club like that in such turmoil?”

To others the question is: Why is a man wanted on the plank at one club seen as the perfect coach at every other team?

Port Adelaide premiership midfielder Kane Cornes is known as the greatest advocate in media ranks of Hinkley – and the greatest critic of so many other coaches.

“It is a really good question – and I understand there is a certain factor among the Port Adelaide fans who want a new voice, a fresh start,” Cornes told InDaily. “After 10 years with no premiership and no grand final, they want change.

“But there is a strong lesson in football history – change does not guarantee better results. And finding the right coach is not easy, as Essendon is finding out right now.

“Port Adelaide has a very good coach in Ken Hinkley. The list is in pretty good shape. Ken is contracted to coach the club next season. The club has given him the opportunity to turn it around, and that is the right move. They have done the right thing.”

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley at a press conference. Photo: AAP/Kelly Barnes

Hinkley’s patience with questions on his future changed dramatically last month. He eagerly walked into a press conference at Alberton saying with a smile, “Still the last man standing …”

This is in reference to how everyone – except Hinkley – walked away from the Port Adelaide job in 2012, so he was the “last man standing”.

A fortnight later, Hinkley walked out of a press conference at Adelaide Oval when questioned on his interest in the North Melbourne vacancy, later filled by Alastair Clarkson.

At the start of the year, Hinkley made it known to his friends he was not worried with his hold on the coaching job at Port Adelaide. But he was concerned with how a change of coach would affect the playing group he has assembled with the image of a “father”.

Hinkley’s care for his players is his strength, says former Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas who led the chase for the senior coach at the end of 2012, when Garry Hocking was holding the fort at Alberton after the sacking of Matthew Primus.

“Ken speaks to every player every week,” said Thomas, now chief executive of Spark, an Australian company assessing how technology can save athletes from the turmoil of concussion. “As a player, that means a lot to you. When I was at Fitzroy (in 1987 and 1988), I could go a month without a word from (coach) David Parkin.

“That is Ken’s ‘sweet spot’. At Alberton, when there was a ‘close the door’ moment for a player, there were two men they went to – Ken and (former indigenous program manager) Paul Vandenbergh. You could say they were the club psychologists. And we had to make sure we put structures in place to ensure Ken could keep doing that, rather than be swallowed up by the ever-increasing demands put on an AFL coach.”

Robbie Gray is chaired from the ground after his last game in August. Photo: Michael Errey/InDaily

Robbie Gray’s farewell speech at Adelaide Oval after Showdown LII emphasised how Hinkley is more than a coach to his players.

Gray, a 271-game champion who rarely spoke, was forceful in his praise of Hinkley, saying: “Ken has done so much for me and my family for the past 10 years.

“Ken has meant so much to me. He has got the best out of me and I owe him so much. He always has been there for me, on and off the field. And I am very appreciative.”

Hinkley’s “last man standing” jibe in August needs to be corrected a decade after his signing as Port Adelaide’s fourth AFL coach after Cahill, Mark Williams and Primus.

Hinkley, says Thomas, was Port Adelaide’s first – not last – choice for the vacancy.

“Leon Cameron, Brett Ratten, Rodney Eade, Chris Fagan … and Ken Hinkley, who was No. 1 on our list,” Thomas told InDaily.

“Ken Hinkley (who was an assistant coach at Gold Coast at the time) was the first person I contacted. He would not even have a coffee with me. I was prepared to fly to the Gold Coast just for a coffee. He was not interested.”

Thomas’ frustration in being unable to even get into a conversation with Hinkley peaked at the Brownlow Medal count in the week before the 2012 AFL grand final in Melbourne.

“All the senior Geelong players kept going to the Gold Coast table to talk to Ken,” Thomas said. “They were all over him. They loved him. I knew Ken was a great developer of young players. But it was the way the older players were connecting with Ken made me keener to speak to him. He wouldn’t meet with me.”

Ken Hinkley and former Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas. Photo: Morgan Sette / AAP

While Hinkley was rebuffing Port Adelaide, Thomas turned to the next name on the list – Cameron. Thomas quickly secured an “in-principle agreement” with the former Western Bulldogs and Richmond defender who was an assistant coach to Clarkson at Hawthorn.

“We just had the finer details to finalise, but at that time,” recalls Thomas, “the AFL had a rule that you could not recruit an assistant coach while he was involved in finals.

“We had an agreement a week before the grand final. On the Monday after the grand final, Leon pulled out to join Greater Western Sydney.

“And then I had this text message from (Geelong premiership player) Andrew Mackie. He simply said, ‘Talk to Ken Hinkley again’. I thought, ‘Really?’

“I contacted Ken, we connected and he was immediately on a plane to present to the full board. He blew my mind. He was everything I had imagined when we made him our No. 1 choice for the interview list. He spoke of attacking football. Of nurturing talent. Of ‘flair and have a go’. It took just 24 hours. We had our coach – and we were so pleased.”

Thomas also had a problem.

“When we had – or thought we had – Leon Cameron, I had hired Alan Richardson as the senior assistant,” Thomas revealed to InDaily. “If Leon was not coming, how was I going to keep Alan?

“Alan’s reaction was, ‘Why can’t I be the coach?’”

Hinkley and Richardson, to Thomas’ relief, formed a powerful relationship that was so successful that St Kilda hired Richardson at the end of the 2013 season.

Hinkley has survived longer than Cameron (who quit as Greater Western Sydney coach this season), Richardson (now at Melbourne in support of senior coach Simon Goodwin) and Eade (now retired from AFL coaching). Fagan is coaching Brisbane. Ratten, after a tough sacking at Carlton, finally secured his second chance to be a senior coach with St Kilda.

Thomas saw Hinkley’s work at close hand until the end of the 2020 season.

“I knew from speaking to Malcolm Blight and Paul Roos that Ken had a strong reputation with young players – he has always championed young players with a great appreciation for talent,” Thomas said.

“The surprise is how brutal Ken can be. He lives to high standards and family values. That is where putting Michael Voss into the program gave Ken a better balance and greater connection with the players.

“If anyone thinks Ken Hinkley after 10 years is the ‘same old, same old’, then they are wrong. He has evolved.”

Is Thomas surprised by how Port Adelaide’s decision to stand by Hinkley has become a tough sell in some quarters of the club’s frustrated supporter base?

“It is not unreasonable to ask the question (Did Port Adelaide need a new voice at Alberton?),” answers Thomas. “The club should have got there (to a premiership) by now.

“No-one should discount the achievements since 2012. Nor the woe felt by not getting there.”

Season 2023 certainly becomes challenging for the Port Adelaide Football Club if there is an underwhelming start.