Club or Ken's call? Port Adelaide's looming decision around failing succession plan

Jaiden Sciberras • May 27th, 2025 5:50 pm

Is it time for Ken Hinkley to step aside at Port Adelaide?

At the beginning of the season it was announced that the Power would roll out a succession plan at the helm of the club, with Hinkley to spend his final season at the club aiding the transition of incoming coach Josh Carr.

The transitional season has been far from ideal for Port who currently reside in the bottom four with just four wins from their first seven games.

Although Port Adelaide GM Chris Davies defended the plan off the back of their 49-point loss to Fremantle, former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley believes Hinkley would be considering stepping away from the club over the bye week, allowing Carr to take the reins for the remainder of the season.

“One thing I think would be happening is that Ken Hinkley would be having a chat to himself,” Buckley told SEN’s Whateley.

“The bye period is a chance to collect your thoughts, have a look at what’s been working, what’s coming up.

“It’s really clear, and the fact that he is 11 or 12 games from stepping out will give him pause for thought about, ‘What am I doing?’

“I know that in this situation, if it was me, I’d be thinking ‘what is my contribution, not just for this next part of the season, but what is my contribution for these players going forward, and is my presence doing good, or is it treading water?’.

“When you get to a bye, and your win loss is looking the way it is, and some of the performances have looked the way it is, that probably informs your thoughts, and therefore your actions going forward.

“I don’t think this is something that the club would go to Ken about. I think it is something that Ken will have a conversation with himself about, and he will make the decision that is best for the players, the staff that he’s invested so much time, energy, love and care for, and it will be for them and for the organisation himself.

“He will put himself third or fourth, there is no doubt about it. Whatever decision he comes to, he’s got an absolute right to make that call for himself.

“I’ve got no doubt he’ll be asking himself that over this period. It is unanswerable, what that outcome will be.”

While Buckley believes the decision lies with Hinkley, Gerard Whateley believes the club should make the call on the substandard transition.

“I think it’s the club’s responsibility,” Whateley said.

“And have done for a long time. They are the ones that have to sit down and go, ‘what are we getting out of the second half of the season if we hold, and what could we get out of it if we shift’.

“My personal view, it’s not Ken’s job to walk away from his contract. It’s the club, to go ‘no, we actually do want to ring this forward’.

“They get no resistance. It might be time for a proper conversation there, use the bye well.”

Beyond their bye in Round 12, the Power next face GWS in Canberra.