Australian Football

After failing as a forward with Fitzroy, where he played 11 VFL games and kicked 20 goals in 1987-88, Ken Hinkley was reborn at Geelong as a dynamic, rebounding defender of the highest echelon. Polished and precise in everything he did, Hinkley won a best and fairest with the Cats in 1992, and was selected in the 1991 and 1992 AFL All-Australian teams. He played in three losing Grand Finals for Geelong, with the last of his 121 games for the club being the premiership decider of 1995 against Carlton.

The next phase of Hinkley's footballing journey saw him coach Mortlake in the Hampden Football League from 1996 to 1998 before he took the reigns at his original club Camperdown, leading the Magpies to flags in 1999 and 2000. Hinkley spent a year as assistant coach at St Kilda in 2001 but 2002 saw him back coaching at country levels with Bell Park in the Geelong Football League, taking the club to a premiership in his second season at the helm. 

2004 saw him back in the AFL ranks, as an assistant to Mark Thompson at Geelong and over the next five seasons he gained a reputation as an AFL senior coach in waiting. He transferred to the Gold Coast Suns in 2009 and had an assistant role to Guy McKenna for three seasons. Hinkley was interviewed by several AFL clubs for a coaching role during his phases as an assistant but was unsuccessful in his applications at Richmond, Geelong and St Kilda.

Finally, after the 2012 season, Port Adelaide took a punt and appointed Hinkley as senior coach. Hinkley had an immediate impact, turning an ailing club into a team that played attacking, free-flowing football. The Power from 14th place (five wins) in 2012 to a semi-final berth the next year, and in 2014 Hinkley took Port to within a whisker of a Grand Final, the Power losing to eventual premier Hawthorn by less than a kick in the Preliminary Final. 

Widely tipped to go one out two steps further in 2015, Port slipped back to the field and finished a disappointing ninth, despite showing glimpses of its 2013-14 form, including two wins over the premiership Hawks. Most pundits have seen this as a mere hiccup, and big things are expected once more from Hinkley and his charges in 2016.

Author - John Devaney with additional material from Andrew Gigacz