Port Adelaide's footy boss is hailing the resilience of Ken Hinkley, saying the veteran coach hasn't lost energy to continue for a 13th AFL season.
Hinkley's 12th season in charge of Port finished with a six-goal preliminary-final loss to Sydney.
The 57-year-old holds the VFL/AFL record for most games coached without reaching a grand final - 274.
Hinkley is contracted until the end of next season and remains driven, the Power's football manager Chris Davies says.
"There is nothing right now that's suggesting to me that Ken doesn't have the energy for the 2025 season," Davies told reporters on Thursday.
"It takes a toll on every coach ... the 18 AFL senior coaches have a tough job.
"They bear the brunt of people feeling like they're on top of the world if they're at the top of the ladder, or equally that they're the problem when their team is down the bottom - whether that be Ken or the other coaches around the competition.
"Ken is a remarkably resilient person who has shown over time that he is able to get a fair bit out of this group.
"You don't perform the way that we do without having a coach who can drive and motivate both his playing group and also the staff around him."
Port assistant coach Josh Carr is widely expected to take over from Hinkley when he goes.
"When the time comes that Ken wants to give the game away, then I think we've got some very good candidates internally to take over that position, " Davies said.
"I have said that ad nauseam but I'm not going to say that it (the time) is right now."
Davies said it was wrong for anyone to suggest the Power didn't "achieve something" this season.
"We didn't get to the grand final and we didn't win, so we acknowledge that," he said.
"But no-one here or no-one outside of our club is going to stop us from feeling like we achieved something this year."
But Davies appeared to acknowledge frustration among some Port fans surrounding Hinkley.
"We obviously would like him to feel the support of our entire club," Davies said.
"But equally we also know that everyone is entitled to an opinion as well on that.
"Ken has been around long enough to know that the ultimate part of what he can deliver for the club is our win-loss record.
"And of course, we've spoken enough about the fact that we haven't got to a grand final through this period where we have had pretty good levels of performance through the minor round and in some finals.
"We're not going to be able to stop that probably until this time next year again.
"But Ken does a good job. And I think any suggestion that he's not doing a good job or that our squad hasn't achieved something this year is entirely wrong."
