It was in February 2016 that Gillon McLachlan visited Port Adelaide's Alberton home and was given the rounds of the kitchen by coach Ken Hinkley.

Furious at the AFL's decision not to compensate the club for the loss of not one but two former Essendon players suspended for taking banned substances, Hinkley reportedly leant over a staircase and delivered his thoughts to McLachlan, who was meeting Port executives, on the Power's unfortunate plight.

Steven Motlop. Credit:AAP

Chairman David Koch had already made his thoughts well known to head office.

The Port view was that the club should at least have been compensated with a top-up player for Angus Monfries — taken from Essendon before the drug scandal had been exposed. The AFL refused, Port Adelaide lost Monfries and star recruit Paddy Ryder and missed the finals for the second year running. And Hinkley went into 2017 with his own job under a cloud.