Ken Hinkley has agreed to a four-year contract to become the new coach of AFL club Port Adelaide.
Hinkley joins Port from the Gold Coast Suns, where he has been an assistant coach.
The 46-year-old has also been an assistant coach at St Kilda and Geelong.
Hinkley, who played 132 AFL games at Fitzroy and Geelong from 1987 to 1995, takes over at Port, who parted with their previous coach Matthew Primus with four rounds remaining of the 2012 season.
Primus has since joined Gold Coast as an assistant coach.
Experienced assistant coach Alan Richardson has been appointed as Port’s new director of coaching and strategy, while Darren Burgess returns to the club as high performance manager.
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas hailed the appointments as a powerful renewal of the club’s football program.
“We have built a new structure for a new and very exciting era at the Port Adelaide Football Club,” Thomas said.
“We are bringing into our club three of the most impressive and credentialled men we could have hoped to assemble.
“Ken Hinkley, Alan Richardson and Darren Burgess have an extraordinary mix of experience and expertise and they share a vision of, and a commitment to the success demanded at Port Adelaide.
“They will work with all of our existing coaches and football staff together with our fitness and medical team to get the very best out of our players.”
Port have endured a turbulent off-season, with utility John McCarthy dying in a tragic accident last month in Las Vegas.
Defender Troy Chaplin (Richmond) and midfielder Danyle Pearce (Fremantle) have left during the free agency period.