Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson says he’s not surprised that Ken Hinkley is lifting one-time basket case Port Adelaide into AFL finals contention.
Sanderson and Hinkley are close mates, a friendship forged from their time as assistant coaches at Geelong.
Their relationship hasn’t suffered from Hinkley taking over as coach of Port, who are the Crows’ arch rivals.
Port haven’t made the finals since 2007 and in recent years have needed AFL funding just to stay afloat.
But Hinkley has rapidly turned around Port’s on-field fortunes in his first year as a head coach – and his mate Sanderson isn’t surprised.
“Ken is an outstanding coach,” Sanderson said ahead of Sunday’s Showdown at AAMI Stadium between the two South Australian clubs.
“We have worked a lot together and I had no doubts that he would have the success that he’s having.
“It has probably surprised a few people but those people who know Ken, they know that he was the perfect man for the job.”
Port, in eighth spot on the ladder, carry favouritism into Sunday’s match as they seek to shore up their finals berth.
But Sanderson says his Crows aren’t out of the race, despite struggling in 12th place with seven wins.
“With five games to go, we have got try and finish with 12 wins … we have just got fight it out to the final siren of the last game of the season,” Sanderson said.
“We are very much alive but we need to keep winning but it feels like we have been saying that for about 10 weeks – but we have still got a heartbeat.”
Sanderson has been forced to make five changes for the Showdown, with superstar Patrick Dangerfield and defender Ben Rutten heading their inclusions.
Port will take an unchanged line-up into a game which Hinkley said would heap more pressure on the Power.
“There seems to be a little bit of pressure on us every week and that is because we’re coming from a pretty low base,” Hinkley said.
“We have now put ourselves in a position where we probably feel we can challenge against most sides and this is another opportunity.”