The second week of the AFL finals produced two epic contests that will be talked about for years to come. 

Both matches ended in scenes that will be replayed over and over in montages of great finals moments that fans from future generations will watch, as coaches and players had an outpouring of emotion.

Over at the Sydney Showgrounds, Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan was spotted running all over the ground and motioning the Lions fans who had made the trip interstate to get up and about after an incredible win. 

The night before, at the Adelaide Oval, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley squared up (verbally) with Hawthorn captain James Sicily after an equally inspirational win following a week where he and the club had been battered from pillar to post. 

Both scenes were equally unforgettable for fans and carried virtually the same entertainment value for those watching, yet one of them was frowned upon by the league itself. 

Two different incidents, the same fine

Hinkley was officially handed a $20,000 fine by the AFL for his post-game verbal joust with the Hawks.

The Port coach was issued a 'please explain' on Sunday before being fined for breaching the AFL rule 2.3(a), conduct unbecoming. 

Hinkley's fine was identical to the fine GWS football boss Jason McCartney received for making physical contact on the ground with Sydney forward Tom Papley in the first week of the finals.

If Hinkley felt aggrieved by the sanction from the AFL, he absolutely has a right to be, because those two incidents should not incur the same fine. 

The AFL's general counsel Stephen Meade compared the two incidents in a statement explaining why Hinkley had been fined.

"Opposition officials and players inappropriately engaging each other is something we don't want to see because of the potential to escalate and the example that it sets for football at lower levels and we are disappointed the moment took away from what was one of the great finals matches," Meade said, in part.

McCartney decided to take matters into his own hands after seeing his players get involved in a scuffle with Papley at the end of the quarter, and his actions had far more "potential to escalate" an explosive situation than Hinkley's did. 

"When I saw (Hinkley's confrontation with Sicily) after the game I didn't even think there was going to be a fine, it was funny," AFL great Paul Roos said on the ABC AFL Daily podcast.

"They (the two incidents) can't be like for like. If they're fining Ken $20,000, then they've got to fine McCartney $60,000. It's a physical confrontation compared to a verbal joust after the game."

Situations like McCartney's bump on Papley — physical confrontations between officials and players — undoubtedly cannot happen. However, trash talk between two camps that isn't personal at all? Bring it on. 

Hawthorn and the AFL community has celebrated the young Hawks' brashness all year, and rightly so. The confidence Hawthorn's players show belies their experience, and it has led them to be the most watchable team in the competition. 

The Hawks did not lose against Port Adelaide due to Ginnivan's cheeky comment on Brodie Grundy's comment, even if it did provide a little bit of motivation for the Power. They lost because Port Adelaide edged the big moments down the stretch of the game. None of the 44 players on the field in the final two minutes of the semifinal would have been thinking of what Ginnivan posted on Instagram.

The game needs characters like Ginnivan or Nick Watson — the pantomime villain. Sports around the world benefit from this character, so why shouldn't the AFL? 

Ginnivan is more than happy to play the role, and is smart enough to know it could blow up in his face at any given moment. He talked the talk and walked the walk by playing a solid game. Yes, his team lost, but you cannot win them all. 

That brings us to Hinkley's response. 

Hinkley is an extremely proud man and the coach of an equally proud football club that had been hammered from pillar to post in the week leading up to the game.

Port, after winning 16 or more games for the third time in four years, were being spoken about like roadkill on the Hawks' path to this year's premiership. 

To expect the Power to react kindly to that treatment and Ginnivan's comment would be to severely underestimate how competitive everyone at the football club is. 

Hinkley could have hid behind a press conference to get back at Ginnivan, sending a subliminal shot at the Hawks youngster, but he said it to his face, and there is something to be respected about that. It made for absolutely brilliant theatre. 

It is baffling what exactly Hinkley had to 'explain' to the AFL. That he and Port felt slighted by the lead-up to the game against Hawthorn can hardly have come as a surprise to league bosses.

The exchange also lights the fuse for whenever Port Adelaide and Hawthorn faces each other next year. You can bet your bottom dollar that Ginnivan will be thinking about ripping out a little aeroplane celebration when he kicks a goal. 

Like any sport, the AFL is a highly-competitive and cut-throat environment. That is ramped up even more on the finals stage where players are going at each other in contests which often define legacies. 

If players are allowed to show emotion and their personality without getting personal towards their opponents, the coaches should be able to get involved in the verbal jousting as well. The pressure isn't restricted to the players. 

Some of the most iconic moments in league history have come with the coaches' emotions boiling over. 

Remember Port coach Mark Williams tugging at his tie as a response to the 'chokers' tag placed on his side just moments before they won the 2004 premiership? 

If we want to go further back, Kevin Sheedy waving his jacket while coming down the stairs of the MCG during a 1993 finals win against West Coast has become a gesture that has been replicated by thousands of fans in the three decades of Bombers-Eagles clashes that have followed.

Hinkley's blow-up a sign of pressure at Port

It is obvious now that Hinkley's emotions after the game were borne out of a week where obituaries were being written about his tenure as Port Adelaide coach. 

By leading Port against Hawthorn, Hinkley tied Mark Williams' club record for most games coached at the club, but you wouldn't have known it given all the talk around his position and his future. 

Port is in a tough position with Hinkley, who comes out of contract at the end of next season.

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Typically AFL coaches don't survive well over a decade at a club without winning a premiership, but there are two factors that work in the 57-year-old's favour.

The first is Port Adelaide's ability to continue stacking up strong home and away seasons under Hinkley, the second is the players' very obvious love for their coach. 

Following the win over Hawthorn, Port skipper Connor Rozee was almost in tears when discussing the pile-on his coach has faced. Shortly afterwards, teammate Zak Butters also went in to bat for Hinkley. Replacing a beloved coach is fraught with danger, and Port knows this. 

While Roos, a premiership coach with Sydney in 2005, did not mind Hinkley's face-off with the Hawks, he believes it signals a sign of weakness in terms of Hinkley's position at Port.

"This has exposed Ken as to the pressure he is under," he said.

"Every coach is under pressure (but) what this has told me is that (Hinkley) is not handling the pressure well. I understand that we've underachieved as a football club, I understand that we probably should've done better over the last 12 years, I'm exploding. 

"That's not good for Ken. Having been a coach, we're under pressure at all times, but what we want to do is remain calm, remain composed. I want to say to my team, I'm really present here, I'm coping OK, and we can continue to do better. 

"What it's done is it has told the football public that Ken knows he is under pressure and Ken knows he's underperformed and he has exploded at the wrong time. 

"In that moment he needed to show composure to his team and to the football public, and that's where he missed the opportunity."

Hinkley refused to talk at length about the fine ahead of this weekend's preliminary final at his midweek press conference.

If Port is able to knock off Sydney to reach the grand final don't be surprised if you see a Hinkley celebration for the ages.