Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley could barely contain his frustration with his side’s skill errors and ill-discipline, as well as a record-breaking umpiring display in Launceston on Saturday.
The Power rallied late but ultimately fell three points short against Hawthorn in a contest the Port Adelaide coach described as 'ugly' and 'frustrating'.
Having led by four goals at quarter-time, the Power allowed Hawthorn to dominate the middle two terms and eventually fell short in the 9.10 (64) to 9.7 (61) defeat.
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Hinkley acknowledged his side had contributed to its own demise in earning the wrath of the umpires, who whistled for a total of 54 free kicks (31-23 against Port) and awarded an AFL record 11 50m penalties.
"We gave away some really poor free kicks, gave away some 50s which gives you a bit of momentum," he said. "When you break momentum, that’s what happens.
"I think it was a bit of discipline, we gave away some 50s we’d prefer not to give away."
While he didn’t offer specific examples, Hinkley offered a pained reaction but considered response when asked by reporters about the standard of umpiring on the day.
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"I’ve got a pretty big job as it is on game day to make sure I’m coaching Port Adelaide," he said. "I would suggest there’s some coaching needs to be done on other areas in that game today.
"I'm busy coaching Port Adelaide. It's a tough game to umpire. We review closely as a side and I'm sure everyone else does.
"There’s communication that goes on between every department in the AFL, and that’s another one of them, but the end result is you get a summary of what was good or bad, but it doesn’t really change what was good or bad on the day, does it?"
Port was able to more than break even in most of the contested measures but conceded far too much uncontested ball to the Hawks who were able to dominate the inside 50m count as a result.
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"They were able to maintain the ball the way they would like to play," Hinkley said.
"We had 38 or 39 inside 50s which is way down on our 54 average. We were able to defend against them ok but couldn’t hurt them on the scoreboard.
"We dominated stoppage, had a significant victory in stoppage and weren’t able to score off it. We normally score well off it. It was a frustrating day."
