Gray deserves medal: Hinkley
Disappointed but proud Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has issued a stunning and emphatic endorsement of his star player Robbie Gray, declaring that he not only could but should win the Brownlow Medal tonight.
Most bookmakers have Gray on the third line of betting for the medal count behind Geelong captain Joel Selwood and Gold Coast's Gary Ablett, but Hinkley said Gray had "clearly" been the best player in the competition in 2014.
"Robbie has just had an unbelievable year and if people who are controlling the game have got good vision they will actually see an interesting result Monday night because he was clearly the best player in the competition this year," he said.
Hinkley said his team would have to work harder to improve next year and take an extra step into a grand final, but he was also proud of his group's effort and insisted his players would continue to play attack-at-all-costs football, as they did in the last 10 minutes on Saturday when they nearly ran down a 28-point Hawthorn lead.
"They are an incredibly brave group the way they just keep going. They had every right to roll over," he said.
"We have had an amazing September but we have got to get better. We don't want to lose. We wanted to play next week and we are not and that is the hard part.
"It is pretty exciting when you watch this group of young men play footy. If you want to watch footy that is exciting and fun, come and watch Port Adelaide.
"We will keep playing that style. I have got a great belief in the way that the game should be played and the players believe in it too. We want footy to be fun. You should be able to play brave, persistent, tough and ruthless football and it looked like Port Adelaide did that most of the season."
Hinkley said Hawthorn's dominance in contested ball in the second and third quarters was important to the overall result.
"We had enough opportunities through the game," he said.
"They were a bit stronger than us in the contest. They got hold of us around the clearances and in contested ball and that is always going to be the case.
"They were able to push it forward enough and make the most of their chances.
"It wasn't just the goal kicking. We missed some opportunities from tough angles. If we were able to get some better execution going into our forward 50 it may have made those opportunities a little bit easier."
Hinkley believed his team had gone a long way to earning more respect in the AFL.
"No one thought we were any good. Let's be honest. At the start of the year, 18 of 20 said we couldn't make the finals again," he said.
"That is the respect we have to earn and I know now we have got some of that. My young players deserve that respect now.
"They will come back to work. You know they will. They know the challenge is back fair and square in their hands about how hard they are going to have to work. If you don't work hard, and harder than you did the year before, you will slip up and lose ground in this competition. It is incredibly tight and incredibly tough and you have got to stay in it every second."
