Kochie fumes: ‘We don’t want them’

The Power chairman spoke of his blunt warning at a supporters’ function after the Power’s heartbreaking extra-time elimination final loss to West Coast at Adelaide Oval.

Koch addressed the players immediately after Saturday night’s game and told them the club remained committed to ensuring they have the support they need to succeed.

“But while we make that commitment they’ve got to make a commitment to us,” Koch said.

“They’ve got to make a commitment to play to instructions, to play with composure.

“And we don’t want players who are living their dream just by playing AFL footy. “We want players who want to win a premiership.

“If they’re not prepared; if they’re just playing for us because they love to play AFL, they’re not players that we want.

“If they’re not prepared to win a premiership for this club, we basically don’t want them. Let us know and we’ll trade them.

“It’s not a one-off, it’s not a one-out and they’ve got to make the big moments count.” Koch told the audience the team was gutted by the outcome of the match that was decided after the siren by a goal to the Eagles’ Luke Shuey. But he added that coach Ken Hinkley had no sympathy for them and didn’t hold back in his assessment of the performance punctuated by squandered goalscoring opportunities.

After the match, Hinkley staunchly defended his decision to go with a youthful team at the expense of more-experienced campaigners — most notably veteran defender Jackson Trengove.

But Koch wasn’t as emphatic in his support of the bold selection move. “We played a young side tonight; jury’s out whether we should have,” he said. “But let me tell you, they learnt a bloody lot from tonight. “Hopefully it counts for something because we are really hurting.”