Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has given an iron-clad guarantee that his unbeaten AFL side won’t get carried away with their early season success.
Hinkley says the Power have no reason to be satisfied with four consecutive wins to open their season – the first time the club has achieved the feat in its AFL history.
The first-year head coach says Port’s recent struggles, not making the finals since 2007, will keep the club grounded ahead of Saturday night’s home game against West Coast.
“We are a club that probably doesn’t deserve to be thinking anything other than respect the competition, respect the game,” Hinkley told reporters on Friday.
“Every team we come up against, we should give them 100 per cent effort and make sure we perform at our absolute best.
“We won’t be a club that gets ahead of ourselves.”
Port’s stunning undefeated start has many pundits considering their finals prospects. But while hearing such talk, Hinkley isn’t embracing it.
“We shouldn’t shy away from that,” he said.
“We understand that people are going to have an opinion, we have got ours.
“The important part for us is how we go about it and expectation will take care of itself.”
Nor does Hinkley subscribe to the theory that Port – with wins against Greater Western Sydney, Gold Coast Suns and Melbourne – have yet to prove themselves against quality opposition.
He said Port didn’t need to claim a big scalp like the Eagles to prove themselves.
“We don’t look at it like that,” Hinkley said.
“We have played the sides that are put in front of us and done our absolute best to get the results we deserve.
“So far we have been able to step up to each of the challenges and we hope we can do that again tomorrow.”
And Hinkley also wasn’t confused about the status of the Eagles, considered premiership contenders yet with just one victory this season.
“We know the sides they have played against have been high quality sides,” he said.
“We know they are not far away. They have had some injuries but I’m sure they’d be coming here to get their season on track.”