Six Points: Hinkley’s Power reach breaking point, Crows should quit sooking, and the ‘star’ recruit holding North back

Round 4 is in the book – and what a weekend it was!

The Gold Coast-Adelaide classic was a clear match of the round – and of the season so far – but particularly on Sunday, plenty of great footy was to be had.

St Kilda proved their finals bona fides by knocking over Port Adelaide on the road, continuing their unexpectedly excellent start to the season; while over in the west, a scintillating second quarter helped Freo hold off the Bulldogs and get their season very much back on track.

But for every big winner – the Saints, Suns, Sydney and Collingwood probably lead on that front – their are big losers, with the pressure sure to rise considerably on the Power, Eagles and North Melbourne in particular.

From coaching succession plans, to please explains, to the worst take of the year, there’s plenty to discuss. Let’s dive in.

For the best time in sport and racing, TAB has the best app in sport and racing. Download the TAB app. TAB, We’re On. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.

1. Ken Hinkley’s Port Adelaide reach breaking point

If Port Adelaide thought the announcement of a coaching succession plan pre-season would ease the pressure on club and coach, it hasn’t worked.

The Power are ‘only’ 11th on the table despite their 1-3 record, courtesy of flattening Richmond, but all their losses have been varying levels of debilitating.

They’ve been butchered by Collingwood, overrun by Essendon, and now held off by a St Kilda outfit they were expected to handle at home. The last two losses in particular have been as supposed favourites.

It’s exposing all the problems with succesion plans in general: Hinkley is not the driver of this handover, as Paul Roos was at Sydney in passing the baton over to John Longmire. This is more like Alastair Clarkson being shunted out the door at Hawthorn for Sam Mitchell – thank goodness Clarkson realised there was no point to delaying the inevitable and stood aside at the end of 2021, or the Hawks would probably not be in the position they are in now.

Hinkley is a dead man walking, and the stink of an era ending is palpable at Alberton. Good luck being a player in this situation – do you retain your loyalty in Ken, or is Josh Carr now running the show in all but name?

If the latter is the case, then there’s honestly no point in Hinkley even being there, other than an unwillingness to pay out his contract.

But how long can the Power hold firm if the losses continue to mount?

One imagines there’d be a breaking point at some stage in the season – perhaps when Port are officially out of the finals reckoning – when losses must be cut.

But until that happens – and it’s feeling distinctly inevitable at this point – the Power are just killing time; and, with every passing loss, making the future look a little bleaker.

Ken Hinkley. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

2. A measured response to 2025’s worst take

Losing games does funny things to passionate footy fans: and to be honest, I was expecting more of posts like this from Carlton supporter podcast The Prendercast.

That it has sparked extreme condemnation, and indeed that I’ve hardly seen anything else like it, is a great sign that the footy world has a healthy respect for mental health problems to allow a mature conversation with empathy and understanding about it.

So for the benefit of the 216 people who liked the post, and indeed the poster themselves, who has spent the better part of the weekend defending it, let’s unpack why this is such a bad take.

I’d be willing to bet that the thought of letting his teammates down has crossed Harry McKay’s mind over some point in the last fortnight; given the exceptional mental weight of expectation, both on-field and off, that our society places on elite athletes, virtually every footballer who goes through this cites pressure to perform as a key reason for stepping away.

McKay doesn’t need a teammate implying, wrongly, that his absence is the reason they’re losing games, as well as the suggestion that the playing group feels like he is hurting them by focusing on his recovery; to place further pressure on him to come back in this way is not just unhelpful, it’s exacerbating the root cause of why he’s going through it in the first place.

Add this to the fact that, according to reports, McKay told teammates earlier in the week he was in the right head space to return, and that it was the club’s decision to ease him back through the VFL.

Since that post, McKay has returned to the Blues at VFL level – the show of support all his teammates demonstrated in getting around him to celebrate his first goal on return is an infinitely better way to, in the Prendercast’s own words in a message defending his original take, ‘stir in him a sense of utility and value’ than going over to his house and trying to drag him back.

Mental health is complicated, like everything to do with the human mind; there is no shame in not fully understanding it, or getting a take on it wrong. I truly believe the Prendercast had McKay’s best interests in mind when writing that post.

Hopefully, though, the fact most people agree it’s a rubbish take is a sign that mental wellbeing, at least among men, is important enough in the modern world that takes like this will become fewer and farther between as the years go by.

Harry McKay. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

3. The Suns have an arrogant streak now – and it’s great

I wondered in last week’s column whether Gold Coast were officially good now: it seems that they answered that question with an epic win over Adelaide on Saturday afternoon, controversy and all.

But the Suns have had talent in spades for years – while many of their stars have taken significant strides in 2025, the biggest change has been the developing of a hard-edged, ruthless streak that was apparent from first bounce to well after the final siren against the Crows.

Gold Coast, long the AFL’s biggest punching bag, are a bunch of hard-nosed, ruthless, arrogant bastards – and it’s absolutely fantastic.

Mac Andrew having the audacity to get stuck into a literal behemoth in Riley Thilthorpe with his team up by a point in the final minute, then rubbing it in after the game and starting a fight? You maniac – but since when have the Suns rubbed anyone the wrong way?

Ben Long trying to break ribcages with every tackle? Bloody awesome – when have the Suns ever done anything to hurt?

The Suns now have a great mix of poise and experience – Daniel Rioli’s recruitment in particular has given them a sizeable influx of both – and the unabashed enthusiasm of youth.

Bailey Humphrey, Andrew and Jed Walter in particular fit right into the Hawthorn mould of celebrating their success, getting in opponents’ faces, and backing it up with brilliant footy – even if Andrew did have a torrid afternoon trying to stop the Crows’ trio of tall forwards, Thilthorpe in particular.

It’s easier to talk the talk when you’re walking the walk: right now, the Suns are doing both. Long may it continue.

4. What’s the point of playing Harley Reid down back?

Remember in early 2023 when Brisbane experimented with Cam Rayner at half-back, realised it was a bust, and abandoned it after three weeks?

West Coast are doing the same thing with Harley Reid at the moment.

I understand the thought process behind Andrew McQualter shifting his outrageously talented but temperamental No.1 pick into the backline, trying to add new strings to his bow and get him to improve his defensive attributes. Plenty of midfielders have successfully switched down back at some point in their careers, or indeed started there and turned into on-ball stars, too – just look at Nick Daicos and Harry Sheezel.

The problem is that Reid just isn’t a backman. He’s neither defensively minded enough to even consider locking down an opponent, nor skilled enough to be a Daicos or Sheezel-esque distributor down there.

The result is a player that wandered the back flank in GWS’ butchering of the Eagles on Sunday looking totally lost; it was only after he was shifted on-ball in the second half that he lifted, with his 25 disposals a team-high.

You’d think that will be the last time McQualter will try that experiment. If Reid needs a new challenge, why not set him as a deep forward, where he can use his strength and excellent reading of the play to good effect, even if the supply is infrequent?

5. The star recruit holding North back

For all the talk about how they’ve improved and that the dark times are nearly over, I find myself, for the second time in a month, really disappointed in North Melbourne.

Just like in Round 1 against the Western Bulldogs, the Kangaroos headed into a match against a wounded opponent missing several key names as a huge chance of banking a statement win, and ended it with the same old problems in disposal and defensive structure costing them.

The difference this time is that the scoreboard reflected the ugliness – a Sydney team missing Errol Gulden, Tom Papley, Justin McInerney and Callum Mills utterly ripped them to shreds.

North’s defensive woes have long past becoming a farce: 34 times in their 50 games since the start of 2023, when Alastair Clarkson took the reins, they have conceded over 100 points. You can add 17/22 to that tally if you include 2022 as well.

It’s harsh to single out anyone amidst the utter rabble that is the Kangaroos’ backline, but I’m struggling to work out exactly how Caleb Daniel, never mind fixing some of their long-standing issues, isn’t actually further hindering them.

Daniel’s stats in his first season at North are excellent: averaging over 28 disposals a game and inheriting the role of distributor-in-chief that has allowed the likes of Harry Sheezel and Colby McKercher to continue their footballing development further afield.

The problem is that the former Bulldog, far from the elite kick many Kangaroos fans thought he’d be, is becoming a bit of a turnover merchant. After a swathe of errors in last week’s honourable loss to Adelaide, he again made key mistakes by foot at vital times under minimal pressure against the Swans, leaving an already vulnerable backline exposed to the Swans’ high-octane turnover game.

Of his 24 kick-ins this season – comfortably more than any other Roo – four have resulted in direct opposition goals. Speaking on Fox Footy after the game, club great David King was adamant it’s time to hand the reins over to just about anyone else.

Even when he doesn’t make mistakes, his ball use is safe, neat, boring. Against the Swans, he managed just 303 metres gained from his 25 disposals – far too low a figure for a player specifically brought in to create things behind the ball. In comparison, Swans second-gamer Riley Bice had just one extra disposal and gained 433 metres for his side.

Daniel was specifically moved on at the Bulldogs because his height and lack of extreme pace made him a defensive liability that began to outweigh his outstanding skills; he’s not helping the Roos lock down on teams.

If he’s not only not being brilliant by foot, but actively hurting North on a regular basis, then it’s hard to see how he’s not just another Zac Fisher or Aaron Hall racking up the numbers behind the ball but with little if any substance.

And if that’s the case, he’s just holding them back.

6. Can we ditch the ‘please explain’s?

My heart sank when I read the report, after Saturday’s epic between Gold Coast and Adelaide, that the Crows would be seeking a ‘please explain’ from the AFL over controversial umpiring calls late in the match.

It’s still a rare occurence, but we’re seeing more and more teams directly confront the league over costly late umpiring decisions, with the frequent result a sheepish admission of error – which was exactly what the AFL delivered the morning after.

I cannot get my head around what purpose it serves.

Firstly, in the infamous Izak Rankine incident, it was a missed free kick – Rankine was taken down in a marking contest by Sam Collins. We didn’t need the AFL on Sunday morning to confirm it.

But this was far from an absolute howler – it was only in the immediate aftermath, with the benefit of slow-mo vision, that focus went to the free kick that should have been paid and away from whether Rankine should have been paid the mark (the correct decision – he didn’t control the ball for long enough).

No one blinks an eye if that happens in the tenth minute of the second quarter – indeed, the fact that that non-decision has generated so much scrutiny compared to the far worse call in the first term to allow Connor Budarick to take the advantage on a Matt Rowell free kick that led to a Suns goal is just so predictable.

Even if the call was wrong, what did the Crows get out of that please explain? It’s not going to earn them four premiership points, it’s not going to further clarify any rules – we all know a mistake was made – and all it does is pull focus away from what was a magnificent match from two outstanding teams.

Even Crows CEO Tim Silvers seems to get that – in his statement, he said the admission of error was ‘of no use or benefit to our Club, or our players, coaches, staff, members and supporters’. Which of course begs the question whyat the point of asking for it was in the first place.

Yes, the Crows have been dudded repeatedly by mistakes late in tight games in recent years – Sam Draper not being pinged for holding the ball in 2024, Jordan Dawson’s non-free against Collingwood the year before, THAT Ben Keays hit the post call, and I’m sure I’m missing a few more.

But the suggestion there is some sort of conspiracy against Adelaide is surely silly, so again I ask: what do the Crows, and I’ll include fans in this, actually want the league to do when they ask the question? Award them moral premiership points? Umpire Crows players differently moving forward to even the ledger? Get someone sacked?

Matthew Nicks had the class to rein in his frustration in his post-match press conference, which would have been more refreshing had it not been for the answers demanded behind the scenes.

As for the AFL, I’m convinced answering these requests does more harm than good.

Yes, they have long been lampooned for their lack of clarity over umpiring decisions – but there’s a fine line between informing the public and throwing an umpire under the bus, especially when the error was so minor, relatively speaking, as Saturday afternoon’s.

Laura Kane got absolutely ripped to shreds when she tried to explain the call not to award North Melbourne a 50m penalty in the dying moments of their loss to Collingwood last year – retreading the incident was a hindrance rather than a help.

The league are well within their rights, to be frank, to hold their silence and force clubs to accept when things don’t go their way.

Accept the error… and maybe try to be a point in front rather than one behind in the dying minutes next time, and not rely on a call far more line-ball than anyone is giving credit for to get yourself home.

function edmWidgetSignupEvent() {
window.roarAnalytics.customEvent({
category: ‘EDM’,
action: ‘EDM Signup’,
label: `Shortcode Widget`,
});
}

function edmWidgetSignupEvent() {
window.roarAnalytics.customEvent({
category: ‘EDM’,
action: ‘EDM Signup’,
label: `Shortcode Widget`,
});
}

Random thoughts

– Are Geelong now doing the ‘stand up and fight’ second verse of their song after wins, or was this just for the 100th anniversary of Ford?

– Darcy Jones is just the perfect young footballer. Quick, clean, skilful and tackles like he means it.

– On the other hand, that chase from Liam Duggan is a way worse look for a skipper than Oscar Allen meeting with Sam Mitchell.

– They got pumped, but I liked Jacob Konstanty half trying to kill ever Swan he came across. Is he always a psycho or just got the angry eyes against his old team?

– I’ve never seen a player so completely lose their hands as Aaron Naughton this year. Can’t clunk one to save himself.

– Tim Kelly might be due a run in the WAFL soon.

– Is it harsh to say that I thought at this stage of his career Connor Rozee would be a lot better than he is now?

– Sam Lalor will be an absolute star. But you knew that already.

Source link