Ken Hinkley shuts down Kane Cornes’ first Tasmania Devils question: ‘No’
The Devils coach could only laugh, even before his former protege had finished talking.
Ken Hinkley has conceded there are things that scare him about the Tasmania Devils project but the newly minted inaugural coach says he will heed warnings from the Gold Coast and GWS experiences.
The 59-year-old has been appointed on the back of his work bringing Port Adelaide back from their darkest days and keeping them in contention for years.
But he also spent time at the Suns when they arrived in the AFL and knows where their list build went wrong compared to the Giants a year later.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Before the playing group can be formed, though, Hinkley and the Devils will need to lock in a football boss and fill out his coaching staff.
“Let’s get into it, Kenny. Who are you bringing with you in terms of your coaching panel? And has anyone committed yet?” his former Port midfielder Kane Cornes said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.
Hinkley laughed before Cornes had even finished asking the first question of the interview.
“No and no comment,” he replied.
“I’m not going to tell you who we’re trying to get or not trying to get. I’ve been in the seat for about — I don’t know what it is now, it’s probably about 48 hours — and there’s a lot of work to still be done.
“It’s been a very, very busy commitment to the media over the last couple of days. And then we’ll get into the business of who can we get and who we need to get.”
Cornes’ brother and fellow Port Adelaide premiership player Chad was part of Hinkley’s coaching staff at the Power for years, and this week he revealed he had already been approached by Hinkley.
“Before he knew he was in the running to get it he’d asked the question ‘would I go there with him’ and he’s asked a lot of people that,” Cornes said on SEN.
“But that’s before he actually got it (the job). I haven’t spoken to Kenny in the last couple of days, sent a text yesterday to say congratulations.
“I’m loving this (media) role but just because it’s Kenny, and if he did ask me, you’d have to think about it.”
Chad Cornes would bring the dual benefit of already knowing how Hinkley works while understanding what an expansion club needs, having been recruited as a senior player by GWS when they arrived on the scene.
Fremantle’s Tasmanian captain Alex Pearce looms large as a possible recruit to see out his final years back home while helping build up the Devils.
And Pearce will not be the only experienced veteran to come on board and set the standard, if Hinkley has his way.
Hinkley conceded there are “some lessons to be learnt” from how his former employers Gold Coast built their list and struggled for years compared to GWS, who were more methodical and broke even in their fourth year before playing finals in their fifth.
“The concessions that we get are a little bit better,” Hinkley said, referencing a $5 million signing bonus war chest and several top draft picks that must be traded.
“The (playing) experience that GWS brought in, and even with the coaching with (Kevin) Sheedy and with Choco (Mark Williams), you’ve got to bring in experience, you’ve got to help people learn to understand the game as much as you possibly can.”
He also pointed to the man who asked the question, Luke Hodge, as a reference point for who he wants to sign.
Hodge backflipped on his official retirement announcement at Hawthorn to move up to Brisbane under his ex-Hawks coach and football boss Chris Fagan, leading the defence for two years before the likes of current captain Harris Andrews came into his own.
“Role model players, Luke, as you were when you went up to Brisbane to help a young side, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they’re great players to bring,” Hinkley said.
As well as Pearce in defence, Port Adelaide forward Mitch Georgiades has already been linked with a Hinkley reunion to become a focal point of the Devils’ forward line.
Hinkley also joked he is keen to talk to former Hawks nemesis Jack Ginnivan.
Beyond players and coaches, Hinkley added he wants to have a big say in who will lead the football department.
He was well supported by Chris Davies for over a decade at Port Adelaide before the pair left together at the end of last year.
While Davies is off the table, having been swiftly snapped up by Carlton, Hinkley suggested the Tassie role won’t go to a first-timer.
“I think it’s really important that we have good connection between the senior coach and the head of football, so I think that that has to go a long way towards it,” Kinkley said.
“We have to sit down and we have to have conversations, and we have to understand each other. There’ll be a good conversation that needs to go around.
“But I think importantly, if we can, the more experience we can get and the understanding of an AFL program, that would be very, very handy.”
Asked by Dale Thomas if there is anything that scares or worries him about the Tasmania job, Hinkley recalled the “challenges” in the Suns’ early days.
“You have to actually get people to come along and be a part of it and most people have an understanding of what the start may or may not exactly be,” he said.
“My last job that I took on at Port Adelaide, I had a full football department in place when I got here. So this is an opportunity to build it from from the ground up and bring in the hopefully the right people that can come in and be really passionate about Tasmania and stay there and want to live there and bring their families up there.
“Most of the Tasmanian people who go into AFL football get taken away from the state of Tasmania. We want to actually bring people back into the state of Tasmania and get them to grow their families there.”
Originally published on 7NEWS Sport
