Shades of Chocko: Ken treading familiar Power path 20 years on

As a keen student of football history, I'm always partial to an anniversary. And I suspect I'm not the only person who having watched Port Adelaide's impressive win in Perth against Fremantle on Sunday night, immediately started thinking back to 2004.

Yes, it's 20 years now since the Power won what remains their only AFL premiership. And there's some strong parallels emerging between that triumph and what is happening right now at Alberton. Namely in the responses from both club and coach to an army of critics and doubters.

Under the coaching of Mark Williams, Port Adelaide in 2004 made it "fourth time lucky", having over the previous three years finished the regular season top of the ladder twice and third another time without once having made it beyond a preliminary final, just two wins from eight finals in total.

It was after that third straight exit that trucking magnate Allan Scott, whose company was the Power's major sponsor, declared publicly that Port would never win a flag with Williams as coach. Williams' "Allan Scott, you were wrong!" response from the premiership dais exactly 12 months later, is part of premiership folklore.

And you could hardly blame current coach Ken Hinkley right now for having his own little private fantasy about dishing out some similar snark in five weeks or so should things go according to plan.

Not just because the rewards will have been a long time coming, the coach now in his 12^th season at the helm. And not just because, like Williams's version of Port, there's been a lot of near-misses under Hinkley, the Power having finished the home-and-away rounds on top in 2020, second in 2021 and third last year, again without even getting to a Grand Final.

It would also be because it's hard to remember too many, if any coaches in the modern era who have had to put up with ritual calls for their head on a metaphorical spike as often as the former cool-headed Geelong half-back.

Indeed, those calls had reached a crescendo yet again just nine weeks ago when Port clung to a spot in the top eight by the skin of its teeth after being dismantled at home to the tune of 79 points by Brisbane. To add insult to injury, Hinkley was booed by large sections of the Adelaide Oval crowd after his image appeared on the scoreboard.

Yet here we are on finals eve with Port once again a contender, having won eight of its last nine games to finish a game clear in second spot, and with the chance to play two home finals on the way to an MCG Grand Final appearance.

If the coach decides to give a bit of his own back whilst actually holding the premiership cup, he'll hardly know where to start, though presumably Port Adelaide great Warren Tredrae will quickly come to mind, given the former champion goalkicker was calling for Hinkley's sacking just three games into last season.

Yes, of course there's a lot to play out yet, but while Port's repeated failure to go on with the business in September is sure to get plenty of discussion time over the next couple of weeks, there's a lot more substance about the positives in Hinkley and company's favor right now.

Like resilience, for example, shown again against the Dockers, who had a finals spot to play for when Port's top four berth was already assured.

There's plenty for Port to be confident about heading into September in the vast improvement of its defensive profile, the Power keeping their opponents to under 70 points in seven of those last eight wins.

After the Brisbane thrashing, Port ranked a lowly 13^th for scores against, and a troubling 11^th for points conceded from stoppages. Those rankings improved by the end of the season to third and sixth respectively.

Interestingly, while Port Adelaide last year ranked third for attack and 12^th for defense, those numbers have been effectively flipped, the Power statistically now eighth for scoring but behind only Western Bulldogs and Brisbane for fewest points conceded.