While Hinkley has not yet put pen to paper the three-year extension has been agreed to verbally and should be signed over the coming week. He has also denied requesting a release from his 2018 contract. Hinkley told FiveAA radio on Monday afternoon that he would "most definitely" be coaching Port Adelaide in 2018 but would not confirm reports of the contract extension. "We have spoken and we will continue to talk and I am really hopeful that something will happen quickly and I have great belief in Keith [Thomas] and David [Koch] that that will be the case," Hinkley said. "It is private, it should remain that way and when the announcement is to be made ... we will make that call." It has emerged that Port had offered Hinkley a significant pay rise to remain at Alberton with contract talks having commenced late last month and put on hold over the past week. Gold Coast were told that Hinkley had been offered a deal worth close to $1 million a season - a financial offer the Suns could not match although they were prepared to offer him five years.

Hinkley reported for work on Monday and continued his end-of-season reviews. Port had initially offered Hinkley a two-year extension but Hinkley successfully pushed for three - a deal that will secure him at Alberton for the next four years. Chairman Koch, who has repeatedly riled Hinkley and his players and last week questioned Hinkley's team selection and the players' commitment, flew into Adelaide on Saturday morning for the highly sensitive talks. He attended the meeting with the Hinkleys, held along with Thomas and the Port football boss Chris Davies. It has been pointed out to Koch, who intriguingly did not refer to the Port conflict on his Monday morning breakfast program, that the players led by the leadership group were largely horrified by his questioning of their commitment after the shattering loss. Further, Koch too often created divisions with his post-game assessments and deeply concerned the football department when he made pointed comments towards the players. While Gold Coast remain adamant they never put a deal in front of Hinkley, chief executive Mark Evans told manager Peter Blucher a long-term contract of up to five years did not faze the club if that was what it would take to secure him.

AFL chief Gillon McLachlan has been satisfied that no attempt was made by the Gold Coast to induce Hinkley to break that contract. The feeling at Gold Coast over the weekend was that Hinkley would remain at Port. That club will continue its search for a senior coach and remained adamant that no candidates had withdrawn from the process although Sydney assistant Stuart Dew had put his presentation on hold until the Hinkley situation was resolved. John Barker is also presenting for the role but no decision is expected this week with Evans updating his board on Thursday. The highly sensitive nature of the Hinkley situation had been made more so due to the AFL's level of financial control over Gold Coast.

Evans was at AFL headquarters in Melbourne on Friday when Fairfax Media revealed that he had made a move on the Port coach via his manager Blucher. Evans assured AFL executives he would not induce Hinkley to break his contract and would only persist if it became clear the two parties were not committed to each other. Earlier last week Evans and Thomas exchanged emails in which the Port chief warned his Gold Coast counterpart that his club was committed to Hinkley. The view from Evans and his club was that they believed Hinkley had some issues but that they would not be making him an offer until they were advised Port were prepared to release him. The deep dissatisfaction from the Hinkley camp with Koch and a series of comments directed at the coach and players over the past two seasons was exacerbated by the occasionally hostile and high-octane football environment in Adelaide. However those suggestions were played down over the weekend with the club pointing out the Hinkleys have close ties with the club. His son is undergoing an AFL SportsReady role at Alberton where his son-in-law and daughter have also worked.

Multiple contacts at various clubs and in management had encouraged Evans to approach Hinkley with the strong message being that he could not face another season in Adelaide. The response from Blucher was that the disgruntled Hinkley could be open to walking out of the club. Hinkley spent three years at the Gold Coast from 2010 until 2012 and had been strongly endorsed to club bosses from those players remaining since the early Suns years. His former assistant coaching colleague Dean Solomon, the Suns caretaker after Rodney Eade was dismissed, had also recommended Hinkley.