Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has gone into bat for young star Jason Horne-Francis after a fiery match against Richmond on Saturday.
Hinkley rebutted any critical commentary about Horne-Francis' playstyle after he gave away a game-high five free kicks in Port Adelaide's 72-point win over the Tigers, as well as sparking a quarter-time brawl after shoving an unaware Jayden Short.
A combative Hinkley post-game said he supported Horne-Francis' ability to play on the edge.
"Did you see the one he got then when they tackled and ripped his neck off? That's a high tackle too. So he gives away a few, I think he's entitled to a few too," Hinkley said.
"We support the way Jason plays. He knows that he doesn't want to give away free kicks, but he's an aggressive player. He goes at the ball pretty hard.
"It's no different to 'Pep' (Sam Powell-Pepper). There's those types of players in the game from other sides, not just our side.
"Jason's one of the players who does play aggressive brand."
After initiating the quarter-time push and shove, Hinkley lauded Horne-Francis for being able to pull his head back into the correct mindset and maintain his focus on the contest for the next three quarters.
"I think that's a sign that he just keeps maturing, getting better all the time," Hinkley said.
"He's still quite a young person, so we work really hard with him to help him reset himself and he's able to do that better than he ever has in the past.
"So he'll only get better with that."
Port Adelaide's win told an opposing tale to last week's 91-point thrashing at the hands of Collingwood and Hinkley was quick to silence critics and those who questioned his position as head coach.
"Footy does crazy things sometimes. You have to turn up and do what you have to do. Today was one of those days for us," Hinkley said.
"We were pretty ferocious with the way we went after the opposition.
"... We prepare every week to give ourselves a chance to perform. As I've said all the time, opinions are opinions, some we agree with some we don't.
"That's why there's so many people in front of me. There's a lot of people writing news in football."
Port Adelaide take on Essendon next Thursday night at Marvel Stadium in what will be an intriguing matchup of two sides pressing to overcome negative narratives about their finals aspirations in 2025.
