Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley admitted he should not have played captain Connor Rozee, six days after a hamstring injury, despite medical advice after the skipper was hurt again.
Rozee appeared bothered during the third quarter, spending a lengthy period off the ground and being tested, then coming back on briefly before being subbed out at the final change.
“I made a mistake playing Connor Rozee tonight,” Hinkley admitted to reporters on Thursday evening.
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“That was clear. It was obvious.
“All the testing that we’d done, all the medical support we could get, all the information I could get was (telling us that) ‘Connor was able to (play)’.
“I’d seen it with my own eyes — he was able to run as fast as he needed to, kick as long as he needed to — but once fatigue set in tonight, it was clear.
“I can try and hide behind it, but I’m not. I’m not a coward when it comes to owning a mistake, and that was what it was.
“(It was) my call.”
Hinkley was adamant Rozee didn’t worsen his ailment by playing on Thursday.
“No worse. It’s no worse, but it’s the same issue, which suggests to me that if he had the week off, he’d be better next week.
“I let Connor down by letting him play. And that would impact anyone.
“He thought he was absolutely right to play, and as I said, if you watched him … he was flat out two days in a row, no problems at all. Kicked the ball from 60 metres, had shots at goal.
“I’d seen all the things you needed to see. (But) I should’ve (considered) history. I should’ve known that was perhaps going to happen, and I set Connor up to fail as a player by the way he had to perform out there.”
He added: “He’ll have another scan, we’ll make sure there’s no extra damage.”
“Because it was very little damage on the scan last time, that’s why it was tricky.”
