Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was willing to answer questions about opposition coach Ken Hinkley’s antics after the final siren — but only for so long.
Hinkley has already apologised publicly for exchanging words with Hawthorn youngster Jack Ginnivan, and then skipper James Sicily, after Port Adelaide’s thrilling three-point semi-final win on Friday night.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Ken Hinkley explodes at Hawthorn players.
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Ginnivan last week made headlines for making a pre-emptive comment on former teammate Brodie Grundy’s Instagram post, saying “see u (sic) in 14 days”, as if to suggest the Hawks were guaranteed to advance past the Power and face Sydney in next week’s preliminary final.
When that backfired on Ginnivan, Hinkley wanted to let him know about it, shouting out to the youngster, “You’re not flying”, while holding out his arms like an aeroplane.
Furious that the 57-year-old coach had “mouthed off” at Ginnivan after the final siren, as described by Luke Hodge, Sicily bit back at Hinkley and the pair exchanged heated words before the Hawthorn skipper was pulled back by teammates.
Asked about the drama after the game, Mitchell said he was proud of Sicily.
“I can only speak on my club’s behalf,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“And if I think about how my club, the Hawthorn Football Club, dealt with the post-game, we had a very young player who was having had some very aggressive words said to him by a much older man who’s been in the game for a long time. And the captain of my club stood up for him.
“And so I think it’s really tough to sit here right now, getting rushed by the AFL: ‘Make sure you’re at your press conference on time’.
“I understand the emotions at this time of year are really, really difficult. And I’m really proud of our captain, who would’ve been just as emotional, who was able to stand up and lead in a way that he could be proud of.”
Mitchell was pressed by Channel 7’s Mitch Cleary if he would reach out to Hinkley.
“Absolutely not,” was the emphatic response.
And that was about where Mitchell had had enough.
Cleary tried again to broach the topic from another angle, but was shut down mid-sentence.
“How frustrated are you to see that and have that relayed to you from a rival coach…” Cleary said, before being cut off.
Mitchell said: “Mate, that’s the third question. That’s enough.”
The room was then briefly pierced by an awkward silence before the next question came, a few moments later.
Mitchell’s four-time premiership teammate Hodge said it was a side of his great mate that he’d never seen.
“One thing Mitch was as a player, he was pretty ruthless and he knew how to move on from a loss,” Hodge said.
“Whether it was game to game, or at the end of a season. I’ve never seen him as raw as that. This hurt him.
“He softened a little bit as he got older, and the amount of work that he’s put in, but (also) his players have put in, he knows how much it would have hurt them.
“I’ve never seem Sammy like that.”
James Brayshaw added: “It’s a different Sam Mitchell to the one we saw as a player, there’s no doubt about that.”
Jordan Lewis, another of Mitchell’s former teammates, said it wasn’t a good look for Hinkley.
“I thought it was embarrassing from Ken’s point of view,” Lewis said on Fox Sports.
Sicily did not even put the drama to one side while chairing off 300-gamer Luke Breust, continuing to spray Hinkley while the Port cohort applauded Hawthorn’s milestone man.
Hinkley turned his back on Hawthorn at the earliest opportunity.
“As a coach that’s pretty disappointing. I reckon Ken as a coach would sit back and go ‘we’ve had a win, a great win, you should be talking about how well our team’s played,” Hodge said on Channel 7’s live broadcast.
“Instead a coach is in there mouthing off to a losing side. Pretty poor form.”
Hinkley later revealed he was targeting outspoken forward Jack Ginnivan.
“Look, I’ll be be honest, Jack said what he said through the week, and I just told him after the game he wasn’t going anywhere,” Hinkley told Channel 7 after the game.
“And you know what, I don’t know social media, I just do what I do. I probably shouldn’t have done it.
“I should apologise to the boys, I shouldn’t have probably done it, but the reality was, you throw something our way, we’re going to throw something back occasionally.”
Hinkley opened his press conference with a similar remark, saying he “regrets” the comment — while choosing not to reveal exactly what he said — despite admitting he felt Ginnivan’s post was “disrespectful”.
“You use it as motivation to build a bloke up … as soon as you win, as soon as the siren goes, the game is over,” Hodge said.
“He’s a 60-year-old (sic) man. Act your age.
“Because then after all the football that Port played, they were sensational tonight, we’re talking about poor sports by saying stuff like that to a team that’s just finished their season.”
