EVERYTHING and nothing has changed in the last week for Ken Hinkley and Port Adelaide, with the coach adamant the club's succession plan can buck the trend of coaching handovers. 

The Power announced last week its official coaching transition from Hinkley to head assistant Josh Carr would take place at the end of 2025, closing a 13-year run for Hinkley as Port Adelaide's senior coach.

Hinkley and the Power are aware the decision will be scrutinised with every win and loss throughout his final season, and the incumbent said there was a different feeling after the confirmation of the reins being handed over. 

"I have to be honest and you have to feel slightly awkward in some ways because you know when it is finishing. There was always the unanswered question a little bit, about how much longer can this go on? I always say my length of term is one of the most critical factors, not necessarily our results. When you put the length of term together with not making a Grand Final, it adds pressure," Hinkley told AFL.com.au in the Your Coach series.

"Now the good and hard part is in knowing when the end is, I just hope that it's really late this year."

Hinkley has worked closely with Carr since he returned to the club ahead of the 2023 season in preparing him for his senior opportunity, and said the 2004 premiership player had formed strong relationships with the young Power list, will be firm when he has to and take some of his hard-edged playing attributes into his coaching. He expected little to change for this year as Port pushes to again be a top-four threat after making last year's preliminary final.

"I would like to think we'll be pretty continuous with the way we've been for the past two or three years," Hinkley said.

"I've been open and honest around that I'd love nothing more than if Josh could succeed me as coach at Port Adelaide. I've probably spent as much minutes and time on helping and guiding and probably annoying Josh, perhaps more than most, based on the fact I was trying to make sure he was going to be as best positioned as he possibly could be once the club got to the point of making this decision. 

"The club were optimistic around that. We wanted to make sure we had a good internal candidate and we got him as close to ready as we could."

Hinkley starts his final season at the club after making three preliminary finals in the past five seasons and having won the third-most games of any club since the start of 2020. Nonetheless, his position has remained in focus without a Grand Final appearance, with the coach saying the senior coaching role had become a much more "invasive" job to fill than when he began.

"Everyone feels they have every right to comment about you and your performance, which I do find at times a bit hard to understand how the people who are asked to have opinions in these places have never filled the seat that I sit in. It doesn't mean they can't have an opinion, but until you really understand the seat, I think it's become easier to have a go at commenting about the spot," he said.

The confirmation of Hinkley's final season of Alberton Oval followed the departure of John Longmire at Sydney after 14 years in the role with the Swans. Sydney and Port Adelaide finished first and second on the ladder at the end of last year's home and away season. Hinkley's competitiveness and connection has kept him engaged, but would he recommend the job to aspiring coaches?

"I would because it's been my life, certainly in the last 12 years. But it is remarkable when you see the toll it has on people. We've just seen a change of 'Horse' (Longmire), myself, 'Simmo' (Adam Simpson) last year. You seem to pay a price for the job, but we have a great passion for it still. If you give me a choice would I do it again? Yeah, 100 per cent I would," he said. 

"I think there is [a price paid] in your own wellbeing and mental wellbeing. We're senior coaches, we're not bulletproof. We can't take all the bullets and it does wear you down and I think you pay a price there. I have an incredibly close and tight family and I've been lucky with my kids and my wife that I can survive with their care and support, and my players and the club. But outside of that I haven't been able to rely on too much else."

Already Port Adelaide's longest-serving coach, Hinkley will start the season coaching against Collingwood in round one in his 275th game. If he gets to No.300, it will have been another strong season. He is sure to get a call from Tasmania as the club searches for its first senior coach, particularly with Brendon Gale indicating he was looking for experience, but Hinkley wasn't drawn on whether he would like to coach again after 2025.

"It's not a conversation I'm wanting to talk around or engage with in any way shape or form. I just want to enjoy my year at Port Adelaide and that's my answer," he said.

"I love Port Adelaide, I love this group of players and they give me everything they've got. I'd feel wrong or feel like I was cheating on them if I even thought about something like that. I haven't even gone there. Footy's hard, footy's tough, but footy's what I do."