The Art of Coaching with Ken Hinkley | Whateley (15.07.26)
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When do nerves and pressure spike for teams heading into the preliminary finals?
And we start our Wednesdays, The Art of Coaching, with Ken Hinckley. Hello to you, Kenny.
Good morning, Gerard. It's been an interesting little period of time. Overnight, as you said, the World Gamers got the roughy up. And roughy's a hard call, isn't it, when you get to the semifinals of a World Cup. But the outsider has got up.
There's a cautionary tale in it, Kenny. This is about the time when the premature crowning of champions happens in the middle of winter in the AFL.
It does. And we never learn. We never learn, do we? We always fall in and we always go, well, it's theirs, it's theirs, it's theirs. And then we get nervous and then we get nervous in September. And the deeper September goes, the more nervous you become, which is why the cautionary tale comes out, Gerard, because that second last week, which I found out more than ever than anyone, I suppose, is – It's such a hard week to get over, no matter how dominant or how good you've been through the year. I mean, the seasons where we went through, even in COVID year 2020, we went through on top of the ladder from round one to round 20, as it was that year. We never lost top spot, but we never made it to a grand final.
So you live and learn. You live and learn the hard lessons of life, and that is nothing should be taken for granted in our game of AFL and particularly AFL. on prelim final day. That's what I would say.
Yeah. So we will delve into that in depth come September. So fair warning, you'll need your psychiatrist appointment built in somewhere around that. But these, the semifinals of the World Cup, the preliminary finals in the AFL, they are distinct games, aren't they?
Yeah, they're totally different games. The prize that you battle for is one more victory away and that's what gets – I think that's what gets so real and the nerves and everything else, the tightening up of the normal body that just does and plays on instinct becomes a little bit more reactive to the head, I reckon, and the head takes too much control. You think too deeply about what may or may not be coming and you – You spend time where you shouldn't. And that's the challenge for any team that gets to that level of sport. And I think it's a challenge for individual sports too, having had Wimbledon just been played out. And, you know, you see all the challenges that go with that one game before the big one.
Because the big one's, you know, from experience when it was at Geelong. And the big one is just, it's sort of the free hit in some ways. You go there with, well, we've achieved something. Prelim final makes you feel like you've achieved nothing.
Yep. Yep. And that'll be the sense that sits over France today. It's a couple of weeks since we've spoken, Kenny. Six to play. I was curious, when did you really start to button up for the run to September? Or did it depend on where you were? So we have a few different categories of teams at the moment. The wildcard changes that. But when did you feel like the buttoning up really began?
Look, when you're chasing – because most years that we were involved, we were always chasing the next finishing position on the ladder. It wasn't very often that we were – like Fremantle right now, they're five games clear effectively from the third position. So they're going to be one, two. They're going to play two finals at home. So their buttoning up would already be started. So this week – This week's an interesting one because they play Port Adelaide with a decimated team in. Port Adelaide have got no... None of their probably first four or five players, and I'm talking best players. You know, you take the best five out of Fremantle, they would come over here with some nerves, I would assume.
But Port have got five out. So Fremantle have now got this dilemma in some ways and... It's right in front of JL at the moment. Do I rest Jackson? Do I give someone a spell? Even Tracy, do I give one of them key forwards a spell six weeks out knowing that there's potentially another 10 weeks of football still to go?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
When do nerves and pressure spike for teams heading into the preliminary finals?
0:00–12:03
2
How early should coaches ‘button up’ for a September finals push and what influences timing?
12:03–13:19
3
What coaching dilemmas does Fremantle face with injuries and resting key players?
13:19–18:34
4
How is Dean Cox changing Sydney’s game style to prepare for best-against-best matchups?
18:34–29:01
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Whateley
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