Coach Ken hides brutal will to win

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley is leading the changes at Alberton. Picture: Morne de Klerk. Source: Getty Images

KEN Hinkley is Port Adelaide's smiling assassin.

The man given the herculian task of transforming the Power from AFL basket case to finals contender portrays a Mr Nice Guy image and quiet, almost shy, demeanour.

But behind closed doors Hinkley is renowned for his toughness and ruthlessness.

"He gives the impression of being ultra-relaxed and all happy-go-lucky," Port key defender Jackson Trengove said.

"But trust me, he's a competitor.

"He's a very competitive person who has a real ruthless streak in him.

"He just wants to win and he tries to bring that out in us. He's pretty ruthless with the way he trains us and how quickly he wants us to get better.

"Every time we go out on the track, we're in the gym or whatever he just pushes us hard to get better.

"He won't tolerate anyone not sticking to team rules or not doing the right thing off the field."

Hinkley, finally an AFL coach after spending 10 years as an assistant at St Kilda, Geelong and Gold Coast, has made quite an impression at Alberton since his appointment in October.

With support from highly rated senior assistant Alan Richardson, Hinkley has helped change the mentality of a football program which posed more questions than answers under his predecessor Matthew Primus.

"It's tough love," said Trengove.

"With Kenny there's no grey areas, it's very much black and white. No player is left in any doubt as to what he wants and expects from us, which is a good thing.

"You have to do what he demands because he's ruthless to each player.

"He'll treat you the same whether you're a young fella or (four-time club champion) Kane Cornes.

"He's totally honest with his feedback and he's able to deliver it in a way where we know exactly what is expected of us. And if you don't deliver you're in trouble."

Hinkley, who will lead the Power into premiership season battle for the first time against Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday, famously - and torturously - pushed his young troops through 100, 100m sprints before Christmas.

When they started pre-season training, he was so disappointed with some of their skills after their 3km run, he made them do the run again.

In most training sessions, Hinkley has taken water bottles off the track. Rather than trainers running the water to players during exhaustive sessions - as had been the norm - if a player wants a drink he has to run to the sidelines to get it, just to make him work a bit harder.

Senior players have also copped a serve when they haven't lived up to expectations while training has been so physical there have been plenty of cut heads and bruised bodies.

"It's a combative game," Hinkley argued.

"I think every club expects some clashes to happen (at training). It's a fierce game and the players have to play that way on game day so training has to be like that sometimes. As long as they are doing what they need to do to make themselves better players, I'm OK with it."

Trengove - who this week showed his faith in Hinkley and the direction the club is heading by joining fellow Victorians John Butcher, Alipate Carlile and Andrew Moore in re-signing - insists Port's new coach is tough but "not stupidly tough"

"For him it's not about just smashing us," Trengove said.

"He's got his way of doing things and while he's hard he's fair and consistent with the message he delivers and what he wants from us in every session. He's just trying to lift standards around the place and is desperate for us to get better  ... He leaves you in no doubt about what's right and what's wrong.

"He's fair with his judgment but he won't accept mediocrity, which is a good thing. The boys have embraced that and have been impressed with him from the moment he walked into the club.

"I'm certain we've taken steps in the right direction under Kenny."

Hinkley admits he has a touch of white-line fever.

"But that's just me on training days and me on game days," he says.

"I expect us to train well, I expect us to prepare well and I expect us to go out and play well.

"I try to make sure we do all the little things well because they make a difference. If you do them well you'll end up getting great results."

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