Ken Hinkley cops it over James Sicily clash amid Jack Ginnivan detail in AFL finals thriller

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has been condemned around the AFL world after a post-match swipe at Hawthorn's Jack Ginnivan and a verbal stoush with James Sicily that's been described as "embarrassing" and in poor taste. Hinkley should have been happily celebrating his side's tense 11.9 (75) to 11.6 (72) finals victory over the Hawks that sets up a preliminary final against the Sydney Swans next week.

But the veteran coach chose to antagonise Ginnivan in bizarre post-match scenes in response to the 21-year-old's social media joke earlier in the week that caused uproar. Ginnivan came under fire for a cocky comment on Swans star Brodie Grundy’s post by writing: “see u in 14 days", suggesting he was convinced the Hawks would dispose of the Power.

The comment ultimately came back to bite Ginnivan and the Hawks on Friday night though, with Sicily's late shot to win the game hitting the post for a behind. And Hinkley was quick to remind the Hawks and Ginnivan after he was seen making a plane gesture and telling the 21-year-old he was "going nowhere". Hawthorn's players were gutted after the loss and were about to chair 300-gamer Luke Breust off the field, with Hawks captain Sicily firing up at Hinkley's antics as the pair exchanged words in heated scenes that left viewers stunned.

Sicily did what any good leader would and stuck up for his teammate, with many insisting Hinkley was out of line and should be experienced enough not to engage in such petty actions with opposition players. AFL greats Luke Hodge and Jordan Lewis were among those to slam the veteran Port Adelaide coach.

AFL greats slam 'embarrassing' Ken Hinkley act

“As a coach that’s pretty disappointing,” Hodge said on Channel 7. “You use it as motivation to build the blokes up to say if he (Ginnivan) gets near the ball, you go and get him. “But, as soon as you win and the siren goes, the game is over. He is a 60-year-old man. Act your age.

“You don’t go and start stuff like that because then, after all the football that Port played, they were sensational tonight, we’re coming out talking about them being poor sports, by saying that to a team that’s just finished their season.” Lewis said on Fox Footy: “It’s embarrassing from my point of view. The how he did it and where he did it, I don’t think there was anything to be gained. It’s embarrassing from Ken’s point of view to be honest.”

Hinkley addressed the drama in his post-match press conference and admitted he was remorseful for his actions but said the Port Adelaide club found Ginnivan's social media comment "a bit disrespectful” and he was just returning fire. “I’ll be honest. Jack said what he said through the week, and I just told him after the game, he wasn’t going anywhere,” Hinkley said on Seven.

“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 gonna throw something back occasionally.” Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was far from impressed though and did his best not to let the emotion get the better of him when discussing the incident after the game.

Sam Mitchell responds as Ken Hinkley incident divides AFL

“I can only speak on my club’s behalf. And if I think about how my club, the Hawthorn Football Club, dealt with the post-game,” Mitchell began. “We have a very young player who was having 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 in a really, it’s really tough to sit here right now, getting rushed by the AFL to make sure you’re at your press conference on time, so I understand the emotions of this time of year are really really difficult and I’m really 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.”

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The Hawks coach said he would "absolutely not" be seeking words with Hinkley about a post-game flash point that left the AFL world divided. While many agreed the Port coach was out of line, many argued that he had every right to give it back to Ginnivan after the Hawthorn player's initial swipe.