KEN HINKLEY
Born: Camperdown on September 30, 1966.
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Wife: Donna. Children: Lisa, Bec and Jordy.
Parents: Ted and Betty. Siblings: Kerry, Marie, Christine, Bev, Diane, Gary, Pat, Brian and Peter.
Education: St Patrick's Primary School in Camperdown before going to Camperdown's Mercy Regional College.
Sporting highlight: Being involved with footy at various levels since I started playing as a seven-year-old with Camperdown's under 14 side until now as the coach of Port Adelaide.
Ken, Port Adelaide defeated Geelong last Thursday night to gain a berth in the preliminary final. It was an impressive win. What was your spin on the result?
It was a very good win, but we're not getting carried away with ourselves.
There's still a long way to go in this season.
The season has been like no other because of the virus. We've made 10 trips to Brisbane for games and been in hubs on various occasions.
I'm very proud of what not only our players have done, but what our club has done in extremely difficult circumstances.
There's been a few occasions when we've made trips to Brisbane that we've flown out at 5am and come back on a late flight that night.
I must also congratulate all the other teams in the competition and the AFL for what they have achieved. It's been very difficult for all teams, but the best result is we've had a season of footy in very different circumstances to a normal season.
I would have to say in the early stages of the season there would have been some doubts if we would have finals, but to the credit of the AFL and the clubs that is happening now.
A player many of our readers would want to know about is former Koroit premiership player Willem Drew. How is his career progressing?
Willem has been very unlucky that he's had a few foot injuries over his four years with the club, but I'm confident those issues will turn around.
Willem has shown a lot of ability. He's a tough player. He just needs to get a run of say six or seven games under his belt and he'll be right. We signed him for another two years just a few weeks ago.
There's lot of players in the AFL that have problems with their feet like Tom Clurey who plays for us; it's all about how you manage those issues.
How much longer have you got on your contract with Port Adelaide?
My contract is until the end of 2021. I'm not worried about my contract.
I'm like all AFL coaches, I'll be judged on my results. I'm focused on trying to win a flag this season.
Port Adelaide is a great club. I've been here for eight years. My family loves living in Adelaide. Our three children are here plus our grandchild Lewis.
Adelaide is like a bigger version of Geelong. It's got plenty to offer, it's just a great spot to live.
What time of the day does Ken Hinkley start work?
I usually start at 6.30am in the morning four days a week during the season.
This season has been extra hectic because of the virus.
There's been so many things to deal with at various levels.
We study a lot of vision from all the games and that is time consuming, but it's needed.
Who do you think will win this year's Brownlow Medal?
Brisbane's Lachie Neale has has a top year, but I would love to see Port Adelaide's Travis Boak win the medal.
He's an outstanding footballer and a great bloke. He's a wonderful role model for players at our club.
Would it be fair to say things have changed pretty dramatically for Ken Hinkley since he was working as a sales representative at Clarke's Pies in Mortlake back in 1996?
That's a good call. There's been a lot of water go under the bridge since I was coaching at Mortlake and working for Clarke's Pies.
My great mate Peter Hubbard helped me get the job with Mortlake back in 1996. I coached there for three years.
We had some very talented players who played at Mortlake in 1996,1997 and 1998.
We struggled against the top sides because we never had the depth in our playing ranks.
I think we had six Indigenous players in the side back in that era including Willy Rioli, Tim and Joey Chatfield. I learnt a lot of things about coaching when I was at Mortlake.
I suppose the main one was to work hard to create your opportunities.
I took over as the captain-coach of Camperdown in 1999.
They had a great group of players at the club and we picked up Ed Goold, Bruce Cohen, Barney Hinkley and Nick Hider to win the flag.
My memory tells me you had a top season with Camperdown in 1999. Is that a fair comment?
Personally I had a good year. I played 12 games and kicked 80 goals for the year and I was lucky enough to get eight of those goals in the grand final.
The best result was we were premiers and champions in 1999.
I retired as a player after that grand final victory but stayed on as coach in 2000.
We lost eight players from our 1999 premiership side, but we still won the 2000 flag.
During your career you saw and played a lot of Hampden League footy. Who were some of the best players that you saw play in the Hampden League?
I'm probably biased, but I rate my brother Barney up there with the best.
Alan Woodman was a top player for Camperdown.
Billy Couch, Daryl Fenton and Shorty Anderson were all top players back in that era.
How much has coaching and football changed since you took over at Port Adelaide in 2013?
It just changes all the time for players, coaches and administrators.
When I was playing footy for Geelong in 1989, I was working at Rex Gorell Ford during the day and would head off to training after work.
Today, playing footy is a massive commitment and business.
The game is just so much more professional. It's tougher, faster and more skilful.
