KEN HINKLEY expects to serve his contract to coach Port Adelaide next year regardless of the result of his club's semi-final against Hawthorn.
Hinkley is contracted until the end of next season but will exit the finals with consecutive defeats for a second-straight season should Port lose on Friday night.
"I'm not going to be a smart ass here in any way, shape or form but I'm contracted," Hinkley told reporters on Thursday.
"That is what the board have told me all the way through.
"They have shown me great support the entire journey. I trust that that will always be the same."
Hinkley replied to speculation he would face the axe or step down should the Power lose: "That's uneducated. It's not the facts.
"I get why the conversation keeps coming up, but the reality is I'm preparing this week to help our team find a way of getting into a prelim final.
"That has got too much riding on it for me to spend any time in those other places you want me to go. I just won't go there."
Hinkley, in his 12th season at Port, will coach the South Australian club for a 273rd time on Friday night, equalling Mark Williams' record as the Power's longest-serving coach.
"Those sort of things, in some ways, remarkable that I got to this point," he said.
"But the reality is I reflect on those things after your career. And hopefully there's a lot more to go."
The 57-year-old holds the unwanted record of coaching the most games in VFL/AFL history without reaching a Grand Final.
And the Power have lost their past five finals, including a horror 84-point defeat to Geelong in last Thursday night's qualifying final.
Asked if this was the biggest week in his tenure, Hinkley said: "That is not stuff that we spend time on.
"We know exactly what we're doing internally and the direction that we're going and what we're trying to achieve.
"We don't need to get distracted by anything other than this week's performance."
Hinkley said he and his players had rapidly moved on from their qualifying final flop - the club's second-biggest finals defeat behind only their 119-point loss to the Cats in the 2007 Grand Final.
"Biggest reflection on the game from last week is that you've just got to be ready to go right from the very start at this time of the year against every team," Hinkley said.
"And if you don't have a contest level that's at a required level, you're going to get yourself in trouble and then everything else can fall down really quickly.
"You always reflect when things don't go the way you want it and you're looking for some type of answer in some ways, individually, whether that be players or coaches or whoever, people outside the fence.
"We all have a view on what was wrong. We know we got it really badly wrong last week and the team we played against smashed us."
Meanwhile, Hinkley remains confident Dan Houston will play for the club next season despite the dual All-Australian meeting with Victorian suitors.
Houston two weeks ago said he would be remaining at Port, where he's contracted until the end of the 2028 season.
Cal Twomey reported on Gettable this week that the star halfback met with Carlton, Collingwood, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs amid speculation he wants to return to his native Victoria.
"I don't need to mention any more, do I, on Dan?" Hinkley said.
"I'm only saying what I heard and what I hear from Dan and what we expect, that's the reality.
"Look, things happen ... sometimes there'll be something that will come from nowhere.
"The reality is all I know is what has been said, what we believe.
"And I have said it, now this will be the fourth time I said it: Dan's contracted, he loves our footy club, I expect him to be here next year."
Houston is currently serving a five-game suspension which rules him out of Port's finals campaign.
On August 30, the 27-year-old was adamant he'd remain at Port.
"I am contracted and I absolutely love the footy club, I love being in Adelaide," Houston said in his paid spot on Adelaide radio station 5AA.
"I am not leaving next year."
