The final chapter of Ken Hinkley's long and tumultuous tenure at Port Adelaide has been written, not with the fairytale premiership he so desperately craved, but with the sobering reality of results. His emotionally charged farewell tour through the 2025 AFL season is over, leaving behind a fanbase and a football world deeply divided on how to judge his 13-year reign.
A Tenure of Two Halves: Hope and Heartbreak
Hinkley's arrival in 2013 was nothing short of a miracle cure. He inherited a broken, languishing club and instantly transformed it into a powerhouse, engineering a stunning revival that electrified the competition. For years, he was the messiah, the man who restored pride to Alberton.
Yet, the ultimate prize perpetually remained just out of reach. The legacy of his later years is stained by a series of catastrophic finals failures and perplexing mid-season collapses. The question now hangs heavy in the air: was Ken Hinkley a resounding success who lifted the club from the abyss, or a nearly-man whose teams consistently faltered on the biggest stage?
The Unforgiving Nature of Finals Football
The statistics tell a story of tantalising promise cruelly unfulfilled. While Hinkley boasts a healthy overall win-loss record, his finals record is the damning evidence used by his critics. Repeated preliminary final humiliations and an inability to convert dominant home-and-away seasons into grand final appearances became the defining narrative of his later years.
"We had our chances," will be the lament of many a Power supporter. "He built teams good enough to compete, but not quite tough enough to conquer." The pressure of expectation at a club starved of a flag since 2004 ultimately proved too great, with each September failure adding another layer of psychological scar tissue.
A Complicated Farewell and an Uncertain Future
His farewell season was a microcosm of his entire coaching career—flashes of brilliant, attacking football undermined by inconsistent performances and results that ultimately sealed his fate. The club's decision to part ways, despite the deep emotional connection Hinkley forged, underscores the AFL's brutal, results-driven economy.
As the dust settles on the Hinkley era, Port Adelaide is left to ponder a future without its longest-serving coach. His legacy is not one of black and white, but a complex shade of grey. He saved the club, captivated a city, but couldn't quite deliver the one thing that matters most. The debate over whether his reign was a success will rage on long after he has left the Adelaide Oval coaches' box for the final time.
