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Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley says he won't be on the frontline of the club's battle with the AFL to wear its prison bars jumper.

Coach Ken Hinkley says Port Adelaide's fight to wear its prison bar jumper in the AFL will continue - but he won't be on the frontline in the scrap.

The AFL has refused Port's request to wear the so-called prison bars black-and-white jumper in matches against home-town rivals Adelaide this season.

Hinkley says his club is collectively disappointed at the ruling about the jumper, predominantly worn by Port in the SANFL.

"It's clear that it's a significant battle for us as a football club," Hinkley told reporters on Friday.

"We value the prison bars and we should.

"It's disappointment like the rest of the club and the disappointment won't go away - it's who we are, it's the history of our footy club, it is Port Adelaide."

But Hinkley said he would distance himself from the ongoing spat and leave it with chairman David Koch and chief executive Matthew Richardson.

"That challenge is over to David and over to Richo and they take control of that - my responsibility is to make sure that we get all our energy now into playing and winning games of football,' he said.

"Those (off-field) battles will be taken on now and they will go on ... with the right people managing them."