A determined bid by Port Adelaide’s injured defender Kane Farrell to play in the preliminary final appears doomed as Power fans create a fund to pay coach Ken Hinkley’s $20,000 fine.
Farrell hurt a hamstring in Port’s last home-and-away game on August 25 which has so far ruled him out of the finals series.
But the halfback has stepped up his training in his long-shot bid to return for the Power’s preliminary final against Sydney on Friday night.
“He wouldn’t be training if he didn’t think he was a chance,’ Port assistant coach Tyson Goldstack told reporters on Monday.
“He has got nothing to lose. He can push it as hard as he wants knowing that if he re-injures it at training, then at least he gave it a go.
“That’s his mindset, he will just keep pushing it along.
“We will just see where the next few days leads … it’s probably not a risk we really want to take. We know the quality player that he is, but do you risk it in a prelim?
“We don’t know yet, it’s only what Monday, so we’ll just see how he progresses.”
Fellow defender Ryan Burton (calf) and key forward Charlie Dixon (virus) face fitness tests later in the week to determine their availability for the SCG final.
Dixon was a late withdrawal from Port’s three-point semi-final win against Hawthorn while Burton failed a fitness test on the eve of the match.
Dixon joined his teammates at a recovery session at Alberton Oval on Monday and looms as a replacement for Todd Marshall, who will miss the preliminary final because of concussion.
Marshall passed an initial concussion test during the semi-final but reported symptoms after Port’s win against the Hawks which had a bitter aftermath.
Coach Hinkley was fined $20,000 by the AFL for conduct unbecoming after taunting Hawk players minutes after Port’s victory.
One Port fan has created a GoFundMe page to pay Hinkley’s fine and it had raised about $4000 by Monday afternoon.
“It’s nice to have support for Ken,” Goldsack said.
“He has been through some stuff over the last few weeks from supporters for what happened against Geelong (in Port’s 84-point qualifying loss) so it’s nice that they’re on his side.”
Goldsack said Port had put the Hinkley controversy behind them.
“It is what it is and the AFL set the fines and we just move on,” he said.
“We just want to have it behind us and now it is. The AFL have put a line through it and now we can move on.”
Source Agencies
