Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has played a straight bat regarding the club's contentious succession plan following a 91-point loss to Collingwood, the largest in his tenure.
At season's end, Hinkley will officially hand over the reins to assistant coach Josh Carr, which has been a consistent item in the weekly media turntable.
And after the heaviest defeat in over two decades, the perpetually bubbling narrative hovering over Alberton like a dark cloud turned nuclear.
But the Power coach refused to bite into the media furore, remaining calm and denying any confusion of the succession plan among the playing group.
"I think we've been really clear on that. There is no confusion," Hinkley said.
"I've said right from the start that I've got plenty of energy for the job. Josh and myself, we both know exactly what is going on. The whole football club knows exactly what's going on.
"People have got some opinions based on one loss."
Throughout Hinkley's tenure, the largely successful Port Adelaide coach has had a knack of getting a response out of his side, dating back to his maiden season in charge.
More recently, Power fans came for his head after losses to Brisbane (79 points) and Geelong (84 points) last year, which prompted a hearty reply, notching up famous victories against St Kilda and Hawthorn, with the latter in the semi-final.
But despite the treacherous record of being thrashed by 13 goals or more in three of the past 13 outings, Hinkley alluded to his impressive home-and-away record that rivals some of the competition's premiership-winning sides.
"The question you're asking, three times in 13 games, is it a trend? Well, how far back do you want to go to create that trend?" Hinkley asked.
"In the last five years, we've won nearly the equal most number of games in the AFL. Is that a trend as well?"
"We will not panic.
"I am still excited by what this team can do. I am excited by the growth of this team. And I am excited by the direction of this football club.
"Clearly we had a very disappointing performance (against Collingwood) and we need to rectify that - and we have to move on (to Richmond).
"We own the performance. We are really disappointed in our performance. But let's be clear - we played a really bad game of football and the only way we can fix that is to get back to work."
