Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley wants to see two things from his side in their AFL season-opener against St Kilda.
Effort. And method.
Beyond that, Hinkley says he’s not too concerned about what happens in Sunday’s Adelaide Oval encounter against the Saints – apart from the obvious, a win.
“I just want their effort to be right and the method that we play to be right,” Hinkley said.
“That is all I concern myself with, as I do every other week.
“Sometimes you don’t absolutely get it the way you want it on a given day. But we are desperate to provide that.”
But Hinkley admits there’s no guarantees he will get what he wants.
“You never can be 100 per cent of anything in football,” he said.
“But (I am) as close to certain as you can be about the way we have prepared.
” … Now, the opportunity to go to Adelaide Oval for round one in front of our fans which will be fantastic for us to get out there and show them what we have trained all summer for.
“I’m as a confident as you can be. I believe in the group, they will go out and bring the stuff that we expect them to bring.
“But there’s a couple of things you have to take into account – opposition, they are going to be out there to do exactly the same sort of thing.”
While Port enter the fixture overwhelming favourites, Hinkley was wary of a St Kilda outfit coached by his former assistant Alan Richardson.
“Richo is doing a really good job, I know that,” he said.
“They are a young group and they’re developing quickly and last year they took some big steps.
“If you watched them through the pre-season … I saw a side that is pretty exciting and on the way up.”