Hodge bumped Wingard as they both ran towards goal.
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The Hawks suffered a disappointing 22-point defeat to Port Adelaide. Or will the Hawks get home and keep the heat on the Top Two?
It appeared Wingard had crashed into the behind post and come off second best but on viewing the replay, Hodge’s elbow came into contact with the Port Adelaide star’s head.
Gray knows it’s a huge long shot, and says Port just wants to get back to playing the brand of football that took it to a preliminary final previous year after its season reached its nadir with a 10-goal loss to the Western Bulldogs in round 19.
Speaking on radio station 3AW after the game, Wingard said he wasn’t disappointed in Hodge for the bump.
“They’ve probably freed themselves up a little bit without the burden of expectation that they had earlier in the year and they’ve played some pretty good footy”.
But Clarkson warned against discounting the Hawks, saying they were capable of bouncing back.
“It’s not ideal, but there are a lot of sides at this time of year who get rolled and still go on”, he said.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley admitted it was frustrating to beat premiership-favourite Hawthorn and be all but out of finals contention.
“We just want to play again, after (Friday night)”, he said.
Gray modestly assessed his performance as “not too bad”, preferring to focus on what he said was one of the Power’s best wins of 2015.
Hawthorn now has a relatively easy run, playing wooden-spoon contenders Brisbane and Carlton.
“We weren’t anywhere near our best (on Friday night), we were shown up”.
Hawthorn and Port Adelaide share a recent history of close finishes.
The Power watched their hard-fought 11-point half-time lead whittled away to a solitary point at the final change, but stemmed the oncoming Hawks tide in the final term to run out with a deserved away triumph.
The incident looms as a major pre-finals headache for Hawthorn and will be the main talking point from Port’s 16.12 (108) to 13.8 (86) victory until the Match Review Panel releases its findings on Monday.
Gray was outstanding against the Hawks, finishing with 33 possessions, an equal team-high seven clearances and seven inside 50s, and a game-high six score assists – three more than the next best player on the ground, Cyril Rioli.
“I didn’t actually see what went on, I’ve heard a few people talk about it”, he said.
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“They’re a great side, they’re a fantastic team, they play a hard tough physical football, but we do seem to match up OK against them and we know they’re an enormous challenge”.
