Not all factions of the Port Adelaide supporter base are happy with the club’s call to extend Ken Hinkley’s contract.
And no one knows it better than chairman David Koch.
The Power confirmed the league’s worst kept secret on Tuesday afternoon when announcing Hinkley’s two-year extension, a deal set to keep him at Alberton through until 2025 and potentially beyond.
But Hinkley has never taken Port Adelaide to a Grand Final in his 11 years at the helm and if the club’s social media pages are to go by, many fans aren’t happy with the deal.
When asked what he would say to the nay-sayers, Koch admitted he can see where their ideas come from.
However, he believes all the logic points to the decision made.
“I know there is a school of thought that says we should wait to see how we’ve done in finals and our view as a board and also the football committee who went through the process… felt that it was better to get the decision out of the way so there’d be no distraction going into September,” Koch began on SEN’s Sportsday.
“I think also people have to understand that in two week’s time, there are a whole bunch of players at the end of the year when they’re looking to see what other opportunities may be around at other clubs and a key part of those players’ due diligence is who the coach is going to be.
“For a whole lot of reasons, we believed August was the best time to make the decision.”
He added: “I’m pretty happy with the way it’s played out.
“Look, I hear all the criticism, believe me. People troll me online, they send me emails, they even ring me, but I’m trying to do the best thing for the club as a whole right now and into the future and we have a head coach who has enormous loyalty from his players and that shows week in and week out.
Hinkley has made five finals series in his time at the Power and currently has his side poised for another top four finish and assault on the premiership.
Koch believes his coach’s record speaks for itself.
“The facts of the matter are that on a win/loss basis, Ken is the most successful coach Port Adelaide has had in the AFL era,’ he continued.
“He broke the club record of 13 straight wins in a row… and we’ve finished in that top four.
“The facts are Ken Hinkley deserves to continue as the Port Adelaide coach.”
Hinkley is poised to break Mark Williams’ club record of games coached in 2024 or 2025. He currently has 244 to his name with a win percentage of 59.84.