“I feel for Ken”: Is it time to take Power out of premiership race?

Daniel Menzel believes expectations on Port Adelaide must be tempered after the club’s loss to GWS in Round 14.

The former Geelong and Sydney forward does not believe that Ken Hinkley’s Power has enough depth to truly challenge for the premiership in 2024.

He feels that two of their recent wins over Geelong (by six points) and Hawthorn (by one point) has papered over the cracks and would otherwise have them sitting outside the top eight.

Menzel also wonders if Port relies too heavily on stars aged 24 and under in captain Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis.

“Their reliance on their players under the age of 24 is far too great,” Menzel said on SEN’s Sportsday SA.

“We’ve mentioned this for a number of weeks that it’s covering over cracks, their results. They were sitting in a position where they were in the top four for a long time and although they weren’t playing good footy they were winning games.

“They should not have beaten Hawthorn, they just got away with it against Geelong even though they were good in that game.

“They haven’t been up to it against the best teams, we saw that against Carlton. To be completely honest, the Giants should have won this game by a lot more (than 22 points). They kicked 0.6 heading into quarter-time, Toby Greene should have kicked five.

“It’s a game that maybe it doesn’t look as bad on the scoreboard, but they were outplayed by the Giants who had 56 to 42 inside 50s.

“It was a poor result for Port Adelaide but also a poor performance.”

Menzel is worried that if you can quell the influence of Butters, Rozee or Horne-Francis, then there aren’t many else who can win the Power a game of footy.

“I’m concerned with how Port has been playing and the results are starting to show,” he added.

“It sounded to me that Ken Hinkley is resigned to the fact that Zak Butters is going to get tagged which means that Rozee and Horne-Francis are the other two. If you can stop them, I’m not sure how Port Adelaide wins a game.

“These guys are all under the age of 24, it’s too much reliance on a small few.”

The former SANFL star feels that Hinkley’s playing list should not yet be seen as a flag contender, firmly believing that the Power’s time will come in a few years.

“They’re expecting to compete to win the premiership this season,” Menzel said further.

“If that is the expectation, well you got completely outplayed and there are some real cracks there on a team to win the flag this season.

“I feel for Ken because I don’t think their window is right now, I think it’s in a couple of years’ time when these guys get a little bit older and they get a bit more help.

“I don’t think they’ve got the depth or the cattle. In fact, I know they don’t have the depth because I’ve seen it in the SANFL this season. Their team, although they got a win on the weekend, has been horrific.

“I think they’re a little bit off what maybe the expectations are on them.”

Port’s 22-point loss to the Giants saw them drop to seventh on the ladder with a win-loss record of 8-5.

They next host the 13th-placed and improving Brisbane Lions at the Adelaide Oval in a crunch clash on Saturday.