Former Geelong player and current assistant coach Ken Hinkley is joining the AFL’s newest club as an assistant coach.
Hinkley joins the Gold Coast Football Club fresh from the 2009 AFL Premiers where he has worked as an assistant to Coach Mark Thompson since 2004. He helped the Cats to its seventh Grand Final as a player and coach and was a key member of the Geelong staff which coached the Cats to premiership flags in 2007 and last Saturday.
He will join GCFC Coach Guy McKenna’s program at Carrara in late October where he will play an important role in developing the Gold Coast’s young talented list in readiness for the Club’s inaugural season in 2011.
McKenna said Hinkley is a successful person as a player and a coach and has arguably been involved in what is potentially one of the best ever clubs to play AFL football in recent times.
“To have that sort of experience join your coaching panel it’s exciting and I think he is excited about the quality of the young list of players he will be working with,” said McKenna.
“It also says a lot about the person – being involved in the AFL system right now at the highest level - to step back and jump on in the early days when it’s a bit tough and you’ve got to roll up the sleeves. I’m looking forward to working very closely with him.”
Geelong’s general manger of football operations Neil Balme said that while the Cats were sad to see Hinkley go, they wished him success in his future endeavours.
“This is a great opportunity for Ken and his family, and while we are disappointed to lose Ken, we wish him all the best in this new adventure,” said Balme.
“Ken has been an integral part of our success over the past six years, including our 2007 and 2009 premierships. Ken has served the club for 13 years as a player and coach, and during that time Geelong has enjoyed its most successful era.”
Hinkley said he was looking forward to the challenge and excitement of joining the Gold Coast and agrees the list of young playing talent he would be working with was a deciding factor in his choice to move on from Geelong.
“In the current system a Club gets about 2-3 young players a year to work with so it’s a coaches dream to be able to work with such a large group and hopefully help them develop into a great AFL team and Club,” he said.
“The Gold Coast Football Club is an opportunity which doesn’t come along very often and to help build a competitive team and a culture of success is something I can’t wait to get involved in.”
Hinkley played 132 games for Fitzroy and Geelong, won a best-and-fairest at Geelong and finished third in the Brownlow Medal in 1992, and was All-Australian twice.
