Welcome to ESPN's AFL Debate Club, the column in which our writers and contributors will take one prompt from the week and put their opinion on the record. The kicker? No opinion is immune from criticism!
This week, Rohan Connolly and Jake Michaels debate the coach of the season thus far. Is it Craig McRae? Ken Hinkley? Ross Lyon? Or someone else?
Who has been the coach of the season?
Rohan Connolly: There are some obvious contenders, Ken Hinkley going from seemingly as good as sacked to a 13-game winning streak, and Craig McRae making Collingwood an even more irrepressible force, but I'm going with, believe it or not, a debutant.
Well, nominally, that's what Adam Kingsley is, anyway, given it's his first season as an AFL club senior coach. But there's no question a 16-year apprenticeship in the coaching caper with Port Adelaide, St Kilda then Richmond prepared him perfectly for his first senior gig. And Kingsley has absolutely nailed it.
Greater Western Sydney's relatively low profile as a club shouldn't serve to downplay what has been an amazing coaching performance. Seven wins in a row and sixth spot on the ladder would be impressive enough anywhere in a coach's first year with a club. But there are other important factors to consider, also.
Most notably that there were very few people prior to this season who hadn't considered the Giants a lock for the bottom four in 2023, given they'd finished 16th with just six wins last year and lost another swag of established senior talent including Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper.
GWS under Kingsley has been incredibly consistent even when it wasn't getting the wins, despite its relative youth (the fifth-least experienced list in the competition). Of the Giants' eight defeats, just one has been by more than 21 points, and that was to top team Collingwood.
Under Kingsley's watch, the Giants have now won at nine different venues this year and in six different states. The mainstays like Toby Greene, Josh Kelly, Stephen Coniglio, Sam Taylor and Lachie Whitfield have all fired. So have Lachie Ash, Finn Callaghan, the "reborn" Brent Daniels and an unlikely spark in Irishman Callum Brown.
Kingsley clearly has his charges responding to his message. And given how little was expected of GWS, a current position of sixth with finals more than likely is an outstanding stuff. Indeed, coach of the year-winning stuff, in my view.
Jake Michaels: There are a number of legitimate candidates this season, and while Adam Kinglsey is a great shout, how can it not be Ken Hinkley?
I'm not reading too much into the last three weeks. Losses to an in-form Blues side when missing a heap of key personnel, the ladder-leading Magpies, and, most recently, a desperate Crows outfit shouldn't take away from what Hinkley and Port Adelaide have achieved in 2023.
There was no coach in the league under more pressure than Hinkley through three rounds when his side began 1-2 and was staring down the barrel of another middling season. Club great Warren Treadrea labelled the coaching situation "untenable" and countless others were calling for his head in a bid to shake things up at Alberton.
But instead of wilting under the blowtorch of footy media and the hordes of frustrated fans, Hinkley opted to go back to the drawing board. He shuffled the magnets and made several stylistic tweaks which have since paid enormous dividends. Port began to worry less about raw disposals and focussed on efficiency, pressure, and speed of ball movement. Three months later and the Power had reeled off a club record 13 consecutive wins, charging up the ladder to become a genuine premiership chance.
I'd argue only the Magpies have had a better season than Port Adelaide and they have already eclipsed their season win total break even of 12.5 with four games to play.
The other factor leading me to pick Hinkley here is that his players genuinely seem to love playing for him. He empowers each and every one of them, riding the ups and downs with the playing group more than any other senior coach. It shouldn't come as a surprise that he's getting the best out of his list.
Unfortunately for Hinkley, anything short of a trip to the Grand Final will be widely viewed as another failed season. Fair? Unfair? You can answer that. But one thing is certain, whether or not he remains at the Power, this season has made him a hot commodity in the AFL world.