What Ken Hinkley and Travis Boak mean to the Port Adelaide Power as they prepare to say goodbye

“Right from the start, he had every player buy into what it meant to be a good athlete, a good footballer, and a good football team,” Boak said.

“He was able to change that place around so quickly to get to a level of being more than just competitive – we made the finals and won a final all in our first year, from being basically at the bottom of the ladder.

“What people forget is he gave Port Adelaide fans so much belief in the club again, and respect, and he did that right from the start.

“He said, ‘We might not have the most talented list, but we will have the fittest’. And honestly the 2013, [and] ’14 pre-seasons were some of the hardest I’ve ever done, but also some of the most enjoyable because we knew that we were at a level that almost no one else was doing, and we came from so far behind. It just gave us so much belief, and he was able to instil that in us, and he did that from the start.

“He always told the story about the small crack in the windscreen and if you ignore it, it becomes bigger until, eventually, you need to replace the whole windscreen – so stay on top of the little things before they become big things.”

These pithy aphorisms all coaches invoke are the sort of life messages that all players carry with them once they retire, and are part of how coaches elevate in players’ minds to avuncular figures, not just teachers.

For Boak, this was especially true of Hinkley. In part this was because of the length of their relationship, and the closeness of captain to coach. It was also borne of the fact that, at the most critical moment in the club’s history – when Boak received huge offers to return to Victoria, and in particular back to Geelong where he could be close to his mum and sisters in Torquay – Boak had chosen to stay. Travis’ dad Roger, the biggest person in his life, had died barely 18 months before Travis was drafted interstate to Port Adelaide.

That Travis then stayed at Port spoke of his loyalty and love for his club. For Travis, it was also about thinking, ‘What would Dad do?’ He thought his dad wouldn’t go when the times were tough – he’d stick it through.

Many players speak of their coach as a father figure. In Boak’s case there was naturally extra weight to the relationship to Hinkley, a dominant older male figure in his life. Hinkley’s care and advice was of the type, Travis said, that he would have turned to his dad for. This is not to overstate Hinkley’s position in his life compared to the towering centrality of his country cricket and football legend dad Roger, and adored mum Chicki, in his life, but Travis also recognises the significance of the de facto role Hinkley has played for him.

“What Kenny means to me is kind of summed up by the moment I was telling the boys I was retiring,” Boak said.

“I got to Kenny and I couldn’t speak, and that was like the first part of me of cracking, and I started to tear up because we always talk about him being a father figure to so many players, but he’s literally been there for me, for everything – football and non-football related.

“He’s someone I just felt so comfortable talking to about everything, knowing that he had my best interest at heart. He was unconditional, unconditional the whole time and, you know, wanted the best for me and I think for someone that struggled with self-belief at times, and performance anxiety, he consistently had belief in me.

“Knowing that he had that just meant everything to me and I think that’s why he’s been such a critical figure in my life. He helped filled the hole [from Roger] in helping me believe in me, and as the big male figure in my life as the coach. I think that’s why I love him so much, and why he means so much to me. He just helped me believe in me.”

That did not mean Hinkley was soft on him. When it was agreed last year that Boak would play on, there was a meeting with Kenny, Jason Cripps and Boak’s manager, Tom Petroro.

“You have got to get better. You’ve got to work on x, y and z,” Hinkley said, leaning across his desk and eyeballing Boak.

Some would take that as intimidating, but Boak loved it. As a player whose entire career has been distinguished by trying to find new ways to elevate his professionalism, this was the challenge he craved.

Boak was an early adopter of ice baths and saunas at home, doing Pilates, and hiring his own chef to come to his house weekly to cook special meals – with meats weighed out and the specific balance of carbohydrates and proteins. He’s also trained overseas with elite Red Bull athletes, and put in years of work with breathing coach Nam Baldwin and life and mindset coach Ben Crowe.

“Because he knew me he [Hinkley] knew I didn’t want to just rock up, but I needed someone to be direct with me and say, ‘Well if you want to rock up, this is what you need to get better at – and I know you can get better at it’. And I was like, sweet, because it just felt like he believed in me again and had my back.

“That is what Kenny has always been like.”

There is a percentage of Port fans who will not be upset at a change of coach and Hinkley’s departure. There are very few who will not shed a tear at Adelaide Oval watching Boak play his last game.

Both Hinkley and Boak had successful careers at Port by all measures except the one most fans measure success by – premierships. Boak leaves the game an ornament to the AFL, not just Port – 387 games played, and a three-time All-Australian, who was runner-up in the Brownlow to Lachie Neale in 2020 at 32 years old. Hinkley transformed a club, coached them to four preliminary finals and made finals in seven of his 12 seasons before this year’s ill-fated succession season.

“It’s a results-based business, but we also need to look at the fact that of where we were and where we are now,” Boak said.

“Have we got better as a football club under Ken? Regardless of what people were saying about him, he would always turn up and make sure that we were getting better as a football club. And you know what? Flags are out of our control, all that stuff we would have loved to have had under Ken and he himself admits that, you know – he would love to have brought that to Port, but what he’s done for this place is return it to a level of being super, super competitive and a club that now is respected.”

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