Ken Hinkley divides AFL world after brutal Connor Rozee admission in Port Adelaide drama

Ken Hinkley's apology for playing Connor Rozee before the Port Adelaide captain limped off injured for a second straight game, has left the AFL world divided. Port's gamble on their inspirational skipper backfired badly during Thursday night's 30-point defeat to city rivals Adelaide, with Rozee's troublesome hamstring seeing him substituted at three quarter-time.

Rozee was also unable to complete last Friday night's game against St Kilda due to the hamstring issue, but was declared fit to face the Crows in the Showdown despite scans showing some damage. And the risks around his inclusion were brutally exposed as Rozee failed to feature in the final quarter of the 12.6 (78) to 5.18 (48), leading to an apology from Hinkley in his post-match press conference.

"I apologise to our supporters for the decision that was made," Hinkley said about playing his skipper. "The decision was made collectively but I am in charge. And I set Connor up to fail as a player by the way he had to perform out there. After halftime he couldn't get to top speed and he was reluctant to kick.

"I made a mistake playing Connor Rozee... that was clear, it was obvious. I can try and hide behind it but I am not a coward when it comes to owning a mistake and that was what it was." Rozee will now miss Port's trip to Geelong to meet the unbeaten Cats next Friday night but Hinkley denied suggestions that Rozee's injury may have worsened because he played.

"It's no worse but it's the same issue," Hinkley said. "Which would suggest to me that if he had the week off, he would be better the next week. He thought he was absolutely right to play... he was flat-out two days in a row, no problems at all.

"I watched him kick the ball from 60 metres, have shots at goal, I've seen all the things you needed to see. I should have known that or should have known that that was perhaps going to happen." While analysts such as Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall described Hinkley as being “absolutely brilliant” for owning the situation, others such as dual premiership-winning Kangaroos great David King took aim at the Port coach for the glaring mistake.

David King criticises Port Adelaide for risking Connor Rozee

“There are players you can make mistakes with and players you can’t,” King said. “It’s a big gamble with Connor Rozee to be taking. There was something there. This guy is marquee, if there’s something there, why would you take the risk?

“He doesn’t play for two or three weeks now, does he? He’s just conceded he’s made a mistake and there’s an issue there, there’s no way he’s playing next Friday.” Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna also weighed in on the situation and said Rozee also needed to accept blame for putting his hand up to play.

“There are a lot of senior players that play throughout the year with issues and niggles you discuss with the coaches and medical staff – what you play through and don’t," Montagana said. "Connor sounds like a player who’s never had any soft tissue issues before.

“So he maybe couldn’t give them the correct information that they needed, he wasn’t sure himself. He would’ve declared he felt right and in the end it was partly his fault as well for saying he was right when he clearly wasn’t.”

Injuries and goal-kicking issues mount for Port Adelaide

While the Power will now be without Rozee for at least their next match against Geelong, they were also rocked by further injuries to key forwards Todd Marshall (ankle) and Mitch Georgiades (knee) in the defeat to the Crows. Port's inaccuracy in front of goal was just as concerning for Hinkley, with the Power booting 18 behinds compared to just five goals to continue a worrying trend.

"We just could not convert," Hinkley said about his side's poor goal-kicking. "They reality is for us, that has been consistent, we have been falling down too often in conversion. The facts are, we're not scoring at the level that we need to."

with AAP