Port Adelaide great Warren Tredrea has found himself in a tricky situation as heat intensifies on the club’s long-term coach Ken Hinkley.
Hinkley is under fire as his team slides down the ladder and some recent underwhelming performances have fans calling for Hinkley’s head.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: James Brayshaw sends message to Warren Tredrea.
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Tredrea, a legend of the club, joined Port Adelaide’s board in February but he himself was in the spotlight just in April last year when when he told the Big Deal podcast that Hinkley’s position of coach was “untenable”.
Hinkley has coached Port Adelaide 11 years, starting way back in 2013.
He has a healthy 60.4 per cent winning percentage but is yet to taste ultimate success or even play off in a grand final.
The jungle drums were beating last year and they are beating louder than ever now, despite the club is still sitting in the top eight.
Fans were booing Hinkley after the team was smashed by Brisbane on Saturday at Adelaide Oval.
Tredrea has a high media profile in South Australia and appears on radio station FiveAA.
In a recent appearance, a fan vented to Tredrea about Hinkley, saying that Tredrea’s “untenable” call was accurate while calling Hinkley a “con artist”.
“He (Hinkley) said he had the list, he sold our top future draft picks to get the list. Now he’s says he doesn’t have it, he’s a con artist,” the fan said.
“Give (midfield coach Josh) Carr an audition and see if he can turn this around and open (the senior coaching position) up at the end of the year.”
Tredrea responded: “Cool.” But later apologised and clarified that the one-word comment after fans seem to think he was agreeing with the irate fan.
“I want to set the record straight … and I know there is a lot media interest in it, but the reality is it was an acknowledgement (of what that fan was saying), it wasn’t certainly an endorsement,” Tredrea said.
There are obvious certain sensitivities around board member’s comments, certainly when they come from someone as well known and respected as Tredrea (a Port Adelaide premiership captain).
Channel Seven star commentator James Brayshaw was asked his thoughts on Tredrea’s position, given Brayshaw was chairman of North Melbourne from 2008 to 2016.
Brayshaw reflected on how he handled media comments and how he made sure the club spoke with a unified voice that matched the message of former coach Brad Scott.
“We had the view that only the chairman spoke from the board; none of the directors ever spoke,” Brayshaw said.
But, according to Brayshaw, being a board member and a media commentator is “not untenable”.
“Our own Luke Darcy (Seven commentator and former Western Bulldogs champion) is a director of the Western Bulldogs and does a fantastic job of being a director and not saying or doing the wrong thing,” Brayshaw said.
“I feel for Warren Tredrea. He’s got a show every night. Mark Riccuito (former Adelaide superstar) over there has a similar path to walk.
“I used to always grab (Brad Scott) and say, ‘Mate, we’re not leaving this room until we agree on what is publicly being said about whatever had happened.”
Brayshaw said it was imperative for a club president or a board member to go to media conferences or watch or listen to them closely, “so when you were asked about it later you could basically mirror what the coach had said”.
“So you’re not at cross-purposes,” he said
“Because as soon as you are, people smell blood in the water and that happens.”
