AS THE AFL world rolls in to Adelaide for Gather Round, Ken Hinkley knows what's coming his way.
Port Adelaide coach realises he'll be central to the build-up to his side's grudge game against Hawthorn on Sunday night. And while he's fine with it, Hinkley won't care for it.
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"I will do everything we can to try and beat Hawthorn and bring our best game of football, that's all I care about," Hinkley said after Port's 17-point loss to St Kilda on Sunday.
"I don't care about any of the stuff that goes on outside that."
Port defeated Hawthorn by just one point at Adelaide Oval in round 11 last year, and then after last year's semi-final when the Power pipped the Hawks by three points, Hinkley was fined $20,000 by the AFL for verbally taunting Hawthorn players.
His sledging will feature prominently ahead of the rematch between the clubs next Sunday at Adelaide Oval, the final game of this Gather Round edition.
"Rivalries in this game are OK," Hinkley said.
"I'm OK that there is a bit of a rivalry.
"We (Port and Hawthorn) had a couple of games last year that were pretty tight and pretty intense.
"Emotions spill over. I have spoken about that enough.
"I am just looking forward to the opportunity for us to turn up next Sunday night and play our way of football.
"And Hawthorn just happens to be the opposition. We're OK with that."
The 12th-placed Power are wobbling with one win and three losses ahead of hosting the table-topping Hawks, who are unbeaten from four games.
On Sunday against the Saints, Port trailed by a match-high margin of 31 points late in the second quarter and were 16 points down at three-quarter time.
The Power then charged with Ollie Lord and Mitch Georgiades scoring goals to be down by just five points late before St Kilda kicked away again.
But Port coach Hinkley, rather than lamenting the finish, bemoaned his side's start when St Kilda booted six consecutive majors to lead by 30 points in the first term.
"We gave them too much power around the ball, we gave them too many opportunities to score," Hinkley said.
"We were poor around the ball at the start of the game and that really hurt us at the end.
"Because after that, I thought it was actually, being fair, the game was played on our terms a fair bit."
St Kilda coach Ross Lyon lauded his side's emerging spirit after holding off a fast-finishing Port Adelaide for the precious 17-point away victory.
"Our last three minutes were really strong," Lyon said.
"We are young, I think we had 10 players with basically less than 10 games or second-year (in the AFL).
"Is it maturity? I think their capacity to learn ... (from) those older guys helps those guys from not tightening up and focusing on executing what you need to do in that moment, so that was good."
St Kilda plays a red-hot Greater Western Sydney at Norwood Oval on Sunday afternoon.
