“That's not Port”: Hinkley assesses dire Kangaroo belting

Josh Carr's first game as head honcho at Port Adelaide went about as badly as one could have imagined, and Ken Hinkley has assessed what went wrong with his former side.

Facing a lowly North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium to open their 2026 campaign, the Power were handed a major belting, with the 46-point margin not quite telling the full story.

Battered in the midfield, well behind in the contest and behind at every exchange, it could hardly have started worse for Carr.

Hinkley, who spent 13 seasons at Port's helm including the entire 2025 season easing his understudy into the role, watched the contest closely, noting some major changes to the club's game plan that weren't quite perfected ahead of Round 1.

However, allowing the grace of time and noting the below average games played by the club's stars, Hinkley is certain that better times lie ahead.

“North Melbourne was due,” Hinkley told SEN's Sportsday.

“They’ve been due for a couple of years, with the talent they’ve got in their side, to get going and get rolling.

“I thought Port would win. I’m on record of saying that I thought Port would win and win comfortably. Don’t watch pre-season form, it’s the worst thing you can do.

“What I did notice, as the old Port coach and someone who doesn’t have much contact with anyone around the club now, is that their defence looked off a little bit, and that’s a new system that Josh is implementing.

“They can look half a yard off, and you can look half a paddock off. They gave up 119 marks. We as a football club were always very good at stopping and denying marks for the oppo. That’s not Port, and that’s not the way they play.

“Their better players are really, really critical. They have to play at a really big level, and they didn’t get great games from Aliir Aliir, from Connor (Rozee) and Zak (Butters) – they were okay, but they weren’t great games.

“Hornet (Jason Horne-Francis) - limited pre-season, he’s had 10 possessions. Miles Bergman missed the last game.

“Don’t panic, don’t go crazy, first game, Josh’s first go. I’m sure there’s plenty of things to come that will be much, much better than that for Port.

“It just goes to show, your best players; you get them playing well, you’re in much better shape.”

Former Port assistant coach Chad Cornes also made comment, with his concerns more specifically tied to the club's engine room.

“Not to overreact, but the concern for me is the midfield,” Cornes told SEN SA’s The Run Home.

“That’s been an issue for over a year now, and that’s where all of their best players are. If they are not dominating the midfield… you can’t lose clearances by 11 to a North Melbourne team.

“It was hard to see anything that they’ve told us they’ve been working on over pre-season come to life.

“It’s only one game, we won’t overreact, but it wasn’t good.”

Port Adelaide will look to change their fortunes against Essendon this Sunday afternoon.