Why Ken Hinkley, Leon Cameron deserve more time to steady ships

Port Adelaide mentor Ken Hinkley is battling to overcome five-straight losses to the 2022 campaign while Greater Western Sydney leader Leon Cameron has the Giants at one win and four losses.

Let's look at 'Kenny from Camperdown' first-up.

The 55-year-old famously declared the Power were ready to win a premiership prior to the 2021 and has been in the job nine years.

They haven't reached a grand final in that time period despite boasting a list as strong as any other on paper. But the winless start is perhaps drawing the most criticism of all.

Does that mean David Koch's board should pull the pin and sack him? Not a chance. Teams have blips. Remember Melbourne in 2019? The Demons finished 17^th and ninth in 2020 and yes, the vultures were circling Simon Goodwin.

The next season, Goodwin's men were by far the best side in the competition and ran out to snap a 57 flag drought. They're again the best team in the AFL in 2022.

The moral of the story is that sometimes, patience is rewarded. Sometimes, for whatever reason, results just don't flow. That sounds like an oxymoron given professional sport is a performance-driven industry. But Kenny has had them close before and is capable of having them close again.

"I'm going to continue to believe that and I'm going to continue to work towards that," Hinkley said after the Power's three-point loss to Carlton on Sunday.

"It's enormously challenging, there's no doubt about that, but I'm not going to give up and the team won't give up.

"We'll keep to task and we'll keep going and you never know, we might get on a (winning) run just as big."

It's important to note Hinkley has lost two of his well-credentialed assistants over the summer in Jarrad Schofield, who joined West Coast, and Michael Voss, who left for Carlton.

Voss was a senior assistant and was obviously well-respected at the club. There's going to be a period of transition when assistants depart and replacements find their feet.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Cameron, on the other hand, is perhaps deserving of even more time to get things right.

The Caramut, South Warrnambool and East Warrnambool export had every right to be crowned coach of the year in 2021 after reversing a 0-3 start to make finals.

He steered the Giants to a decider in 2019 and is a proven success story at the elite level. Cameron publicly acknowledged he and the Sydney Olympic Park-based outfit would park contract talks until the end of the year in March.

Does the uncertainty of not knowing if he'll be there make things harder? From the outside, it would seem so. But it's worth noting only Cameron and those internally know how the situation stacks up.

Both parties might be very comfortable with the deal to hold off until the end of the year and it might help them focus on the one thing that matters immediately - winning games.

But Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley, who was in the same position in 2021 before he and the Magpies decided to split mid-season, said it was a tough spot.

"It's a really difficult position for him to be in," Buckley told Fox Footy's Best On Ground on Saturday night.

"The fact that the club got on the front foot and said 'we're not going to do anything about it at this time' and that they're 1-4 - those two things combined makes it really difficult for the senior coach to keep the hearts and minds of his players focused on what's happening right now."

The bottom line is both Hinkley and Cameron - particularly Cameron - deserve more time to get it right.

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard: