Ken Hinkley’s post-match sparring with Jack Ginnivan and James Sicily on Friday night was great. Less so the reaction from some ex-Hawks in the media.

In a sporting world increasingly filled by boring cliches and robotic players and coaches, Hinkley offered all-too-rare authenticity.

Port coach Ken Hinkley exchanges comments with Hawthorn players after the final siren.Credit: AFL Photos

A man who had been peppered with questions all week about his job after Port Adelaide copped an 84-point shellacking from Geelong in their qualifying final had just watched his side survive a thoroughly entertaining and competitive semi-final over Hawthorn’s upstart youngsters.

Hinkley was amped, and aware that one particularly cheeky Hawk, Ginnivan, posted on social media during the week that he would see his ex-Collingwood teammate Brodie Grundy’s Swans in a preliminary final.

Ginnivan left himself open to be sledged – which he regretted – and Hinkley was the one to deliver it, which Hawthorn skipper Sicily fumed over.

Power players found the whole thing amusing; the AFL hated it. Hinkley’s $20,000 fine was way over the top, given how harmless all this was.

This was quite different to the Jason McCartney-Tom Papley physical interaction a week earlier – which also resulted in a $20,000 fine.

Ginnivan is not everyone’s cup of tea either, but as long as he is willing to absorb the extra attention his personality and brashness will bring, all I see is a young player who gets people talking about the game.

There has still been plenty of commentary about how damn good that final was, but the extra storyline added some extra........

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