Port Adelaide’s victory over the Sydney Swans on Saturday afternoon was the upset of the AFL season – until Brisbane’s miracle comeback against Geelong last night.
Port’s win, however, takes it into finals contention and redefines the way opponents will view them.
Coach Ken Hinkley says his side is relevant again.
The Power haven’t played finals since 2007 and, in the past three years, have received millions of dollars in AFL hand-outs to stay afloat.
But Hinkley, in his first year as head coach, has steered Port to seven wins from 12 games and given the club what it craves: respect.
“We are becoming a little bit more relevant, there is no doubt about that,” he said.
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“Look at our badge, look at Renault, look at David Koch, we look at (CEO) Keith (Thomas), we look at the 40,000-plus members and then we look at our footy team and the footy team’s been backing up all those people.”
Acting captain Brad Ebert said the victory increased the respect the Power would receive from the rest of the competition.
“Being able to beat a team like Sydney does help … but we’ve got to keep ticking off the big teams,” Ebert said.
Hinkley said the next step is consistency.
“We have beaten a genuine top-four side … it’s a great confidence builder. We know how to do it, now we have got to be able to do it week-in, week-out.”
In wet and windy conditions, Port slipped behind early as Tippett took centre stage on return from an 11-match ban for his illegal 2009 contract with his former club Adelaide.
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Tippett took a mark just 11 seconds into his debut for Sydney and converted a 45 metre set shot, then added another as the Swans crafted a 4.1 to 1.2 advantage at quarter-time.
The boom recruit finished with 2.2 and only six disposals, but impressed his new coach John Longmire.
“For a bloke who has missed 12 weeks of footy, I thought he was pretty good,” Longmire said.
But after Tippett’s early influence, Port, with two quarters of waterlogged work, battled back to trail by four points at three quarter-time.
Wingard’s heroics then punctuated a tense finale in which the lead changed five times before Port sealed the win.
The first-year senior coach rated the win as the best of the year and said his team was slowly becoming “more relevant” in the AFL landscape after two seasons that saw just eight wins.
“I think we’re becoming a little more relevant – there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“We don’t give up, we fight and we fight and we keep going.
“People would sit back now at this stage and say, ‘so far this playing group have lived up to what [the club’s] said about them’ and that is not to give up.
