Gold Coast give Freo hope of potential life line should they lose on Sunday, after being defeated by Port Adelaide

Gold Coast’s finals hopes hang by a thread after suffering an upset four-point loss to an emotion-charged Port Adelaide. The Power farewelled departing coach Ken Hinkley and retiring great Travis Boak with a 10.11 (71) to 9.13 (67) victory in an Adelaide Oval thriller. The result leaves the Suns needing to beat Essendon on Wednesday in the last home-and-away game of the season to secure a maiden finals berth. Gold Coast blew a chance to book a playoff spot on Friday night when overwhelmed by the Power in the second half. The Suns led by 15 points at halftime but Port booted six goals to three in the last half. Boak finishes his esteemed AFL career on 387 matches - only six players have featured more in VFL/AFL history than Port’s beloved former captain and games record holder. Hinkley’s 13-year tenure spanned 297 premiership season games including seven finals campaigns. Power assistant Josh Carr will take over from Hinkley, whose final season at the helm returned nine wins and 14 losses for 13th spot on the ladder ahead of weekend games. Port kept pace with the visitors early mainly due to inaccuracy from the ninth-placed Suns, who led 3.6 to 2.2 at quarter-time. Gold Coast increased their lead to 15 points at halftime, 6.10 to 4.7, but the Power then hit back. Port rallied with four goals to one in the third term for a six-point advantage at three-quarter time. The Suns’ Ben King put his side one point ahead early in the last term before Port’s Mitch Georgiades put an exclamation point on his breakout season, booting the next two goals to create a 12-point break. Suns forward Jy Farrar reduced the deficit to six with as many minutes left but the visitors could manage only two more behinds. The Power’s 40,897-strong crowd then gave Boak and Hinkley a joyous send-off. The 37-year-old Boak collected 22 disposals, including 17 in the first half, in his swansong, captain Connor Rozee (34 touches, one goal) was outstanding, as was his deputy Zak Butters (35 possessions). And the match-winning Georgiades completed his breakout year with a four-goal haul for a season tally of 58. Gold Coast halfback John Noble and Brayden Fiorini gathered 27 disposals each while Matt Rowell, skipper Noah Anderson and Wil Powell each logged 21 touches. Suns forwards King and Ben Long kicked three goals each and Farrar scored two.