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Ken Hinkley - coach of the year?

Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho
in Melbourne Demons

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Something incredibly admirable about the way Hinkley has handled Port this year. Ballsy and bold, moving on an enigmatic problem child (Wingard) and others then replacing them with precociously talented youngsters is proving a masterstroke, as has been his willingness to pick sides on merit regardless of reputation. Not bad from a coach heading into the year under the pump from sections of the footy media. 

Brave, creative and forward thinking. That’s what propels you towards success. Not by trying to perfectly replicate what others have done before you. Hats off to you Kenny. 

Let’s hope Goody and the crew have their own brave plan of attack heading into 2020. Winning a flag in this competition is going to require some risk taking and some serious strategic manoeuvring. Like a high stakes game of chess, one wrong move and it’s checkmate, King toppled, season in tatters ♟️?

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    Last I looked they are sitting 7th.

    Not guaranteed to make finals just yet. If they miss out again then his head could potentially fall.

    You've fired shots way too early on this MB..

    Edited by dazzledavey36

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    1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Last I looked they are sitting 7th.

    Not guaranteed to make finals just yet. If they miss out again then his head could potentially fall.

    You've fired shots way too early on this MB..

    Fired too early - no good. 

    Fired too late - ‘Captain Hindsight’.

    How do I win DazzlerD?

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    1 minute ago, Matsuo Basho said:

    Fired too early - no good. 

    Fired too late - ‘Captain Hindsight’.

    How do I win DazzlerD?

    Maybe wait till the end of the year to make this thread? ?

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    1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Maybe wait till the end of the year to make this thread? ?

    Where’s the brashness, boldness and fun in that? Ken Hinkley will be coach of the year. Mark it down. They are going places Port.

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    At this stage I'd still give it to Stewie "where the party pies at?" Dew.

    Expected by many to go winless for the year. Grounded out the 3 wins with another 4 losses of 5 points or under. A percentage of 71.89 conceding less points than Carlton, Melbourne, Bulldogs, North and Saints.

    Could very easily be sitting pretty on 7 wins. Not bad for a side expected to be wholly non competitive.

     

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    As much as I don't care for the bloke, Grumpy Cat Chris Scott has done very, very well with a re-jigged side and game plan after everyone said they were gone after we knocked them out of the finals last year.

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    Chris Fagan.

    I may be biased in favour of coaches who resurrect a prologned basketcase (Lions hadn't cracked a % of 70 in the previous three season, their drafting had been a mess and they were leaking good players faster than they could be found.

    Since he has come in, Brisbane have stopped the bleeding of young players while also actually getting real development out of them. They've gone from 'maybe next season they might scrape some kind of respectability' to 'lurking on the edge of the top 4'.

    Brisbane's position just a few years ago was so bad, Fagan's achievement this year would be like Mark Neeld taking us to finals in 2014.

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    Port are 7th and likely won’t make finals. Hinkley has been in charge for 6 years at Port and hasn’t achieved huge success with what I’d say hasn’t been one of the most talented lists during that period. 

    Chris Fagan has been the best coach this year thus far for mine. Taken what’s been a bottom placed teams for years to 6th on the ladder, making them very competitive and likely to play finals this year. He’s built that club well.

    Probably too early for this thread. Best see what transpired in the second half of the season.

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    Port are a well run club who have made solid decisions to build a decent list over many years. They've gone up and down a bit but they got close to beating Hawthorn in a prelim and have pretty much had a strong list since.

    I'm surprised they are 7th but not shocked, because it became clear they'd replace the guys they traded out with really good draft picks and then move experienced players back in to the midfield to cover their losses.

    But how good has there season been?
    - Started the year 2-1 with uninspiring wins against us and Carlton and a good effort at Brisbane
    - Dropped a game they never should've to a severely undermanned Richmond
    - Upset the Eagles who probably weren't going all that well at the time and beat the Roos
    - Blown out by Collingwood and Adelaide
    - Get an easy win with the farce that is the China game. Everyone would've beaten the Saints with the flu
    - Soundly beaten by Freo
    - Get a big upset win on the Cats

    Their remaining draw doesn't have any more easy beats: Dogs, Crows, Bris, Rich, GWS, Ess, Syd, North, Freo. Just as likely to trail off and miss the 8 as they are to host or win a final.

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    2 hours ago, demonstone said:

    As much as I don't care for the bloke, Grumpy Cat Chris Scott has done very, very well with a re-jigged side and game plan after everyone said they were gone after we knocked them out of the finals last year.

    Remains to be seen how well they do come finals time. If they are knocked out in straight sets then it's much ado about nothing. They looked very ordinary on the weekend. Granted they have a horrible record coming off the bye.

    Certainly they have recruited well for reshaping their forwardline, and Cats fans swear that Tom Stewart is the best defender they've had since Scarlett.

    I'm hoping it all falls into another glorious heap come the end of the year.

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    4 hours ago, Matsuo Basho said:

    Something incredibly admirable about the way Hinkley has handled Port this year. Ballsy and bold, moving on an enigmatic problem child (Wingard) and others then replacing them with precociously talented youngsters is proving a masterstroke, as has been his willingness to pick sides on merit regardless of reputation. Not bad from a coach heading into the year under the pump from sections of the footy media. 

    Brave, creative and forward thinking. That’s what propels you towards success. Not by trying to perfectly replicate what others have done before you. Hats off to you Kenny. 

    Let’s hope Goody and the crew have their own brave plan of attack heading into 2020. Winning a flag in this competition is going to require some risk taking and some serious strategic manoeuvring. Like a high stakes game of chess, one wrong move and it’s checkmate, King toppled, season in tatters ♟️?

    Not so much about your statement Matty, and I dislike the bolded bits as statements - as always - post hoc analysis is easy. 

    Just like commentators with a switch kick in the back 50 that 'just comes off'  - it was brave... of course if it was tipped away or intercepted by the forward - it would also then be dumb, stupid, risky.

    I'd argue the recent pick ups of Watts, Motlop and the trade of Wingard (who didnt want to be there)... are all things that don't confirm your statement. 

    Yet Goodwin could also be argued to be brave, creative, forward thinking - when of course, he is not being weak, stagnant,  retrograde, and/or just a crap coach...is just that these things come off sometimes, and others they don't :)

     

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    4 hours ago, Matsuo Basho said:

    Something incredibly admirable about the way Goodwin had handled Melbourne last year. Ballsy and bold, moving on an enigmatic problem child (Watts) and others and replacing them with precociously talented youngsters is proving a masterstroke, as has been his willingness to pick sides on merit regardless of reputation. Not bad from a coach heading into the year under the pump from sections of Demonland. 

    Brave, creative and forward thinking. That’s what propels you towards success. Not by trying to perfectly replicate what others have done before you. Hats off to you Goody.

     

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    Coach of the year... A few would be candidates, clearly. What's of greater interest to me is that most of those names mentioned have one thing in common. They've all made significant change. 

    I'm yet to see Goodwin change. Be it game-plan, selection, recruiting philosophy etc. He is very head strong and stubborn and is obviously 'staying the course'. And whilst there are a number of factors that have contributed to our poor season, one is clearly Goodwin's refusal to change his style along with the changing game AFL game. 

    As the OP suggests, 2019 off-season could be and should be our make or break. 

     

    Edited by stevethemanjordan

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    Posting lots of stuff doesn’t mean you’re “engaging” or “smart”. Sometimes silence is a good quality. 

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    Hinkley is still coach on the back of getting them to finals when everyone expected them to finish last or thereabours in 2013. Then in 2014 they made the Prelim. Since then they have been middle of the road at best. Yet consistent. They've had a stack of talent over the years, Port. He's either grossly underachieved, or broke even, depending on how you rate their players over the years. But he seems to be running on the fumes of 2014.

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    58 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

    Posting lots of stuff doesn’t mean you’re “engaging” or “smart”. Sometimes silence is a good quality. 

    A rare quality these days unfortunately. 

    But since we’re nonsensically making premature calls like a teenage boy during their first sexual encounter, let’s pencil in Scomo as the greatest prime minister Australia has ever seen. 

     

     

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    If Port miss the finals again with their quality list Ken should get the sack. They are about 50-50 to make finals imo

    so yeah, not coach of the year

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