Inside the Ken Hinkley and Josh Carr handover: Where Port Adelaide is at and where it needs to be by the end of the season
What exactly will Josh Carr be inheriting when he takes over from Ken Hinkley? And what still needs to be figured out? As the 2025 season slips away, see where all parties are at.
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Whether it is at the end of this season, or perhaps even earlier, at some point this year the title of senior coach at Port Adelaide will go from Ken Hinkley to Josh Carr.
So what are the issues at play and what will Hinkley be passing onto Carr when the baton is exchanged?
THE INCEPTION
Ever since Carr withdrew from the race to become the Richmond coach in 2023 it has been widely expected that he would be the next Power supremo, with Port’s football committee anointing him as Hinkley’s successor then.
In February, as The Advertiser revealed, the club went public with its plan for Carr to take over from Hinkley after he sees out the final year of the contract he signed two-years ago.
As part of the plan Hinkley would remain as senior coach for this year, and Carr would be his senior assistant and midfield coach as he has been since he returned to Alberton from a stint at Fremantle.
But Carr is more involved in list and recruitment strategies as he and other key figures at Alberton look at 2026 and beyond.
While Sydney and Melbourne won flags after its appointments from within, relationships soured at clubs such as Collingwood and Hawthorn from succession plans there – while Essendon’s switch was messy.
In February Hinkley said he was adamant that would not happen at Alberton.
“I didn’t live theirs, I don’t know theirs – all I know is ours and I know ours will work,” Hinkley said.
“I’ve got inside knowledge, I know what goes on in this place and how we run, and what we value.”
Hinkley also said it would not jeopardise the football program at Alberton.
HOW IS IT GOING?
Well if the ladder is anything to go by on the surface it is not going well at all.
After making a preliminary final last year the Power sits 15th at its mid-season bye with a 4-7 record.
Many predicted the Power to slide in 2025, but few would have seen this coming.
Especially the way in which Port have been heavily beaten on multiple occasions this year.
On Monday Port footy boss Chris Davies said the Power getting beaten this heavily was something he had not experienced in his time at Alberton.
“That’s a fair thing to say, the gap between our best and worst has been as significant this year as it has been at my time at the club,” he said.
But he said this wasn’t a result of the succession plan.
“I guess coming into this year, you know that if you start losing games that people are going to be questioning that aspect of it,” he said.
“My preference right now is to look at the things that we can actually control for the rest of the year and that is to look at a game plan that’s been set up that we haven’t quite got right for long enough periods of time.
“Our midfield stoppage work hasn’t been what it was last year. And ultimately we haven’t been able to defend very well behind the ball.
“So not much has been going fantastically well for us this year and rather than focus on what you would like to focus on I think that internally we’ve got some actual practical things that we need to get right in the next period of time that will and should take up more of our focus and worrying about succession plans.”
Captain Connor Rozee this week also said the succession plan was not behind the poor season so far.
“We know where our club’s going, if anything it probably makes it easier knowing that we have a coach for next year rather than it being in the unknown,” he told Channel 7.
“From an internal point of view we don’t really talk about it, it gets made much of a bigger deal than it is inside the football club.
“If anything you are probably more motivated to go out there and really try and make him (Hinkley) proud, so that has probably been the most disappointing part … hopefully we can turn that around.”
Those outside Alberton disagree.
Former Essendon star Matthew Lloyd has said the Power is on a “gap year” in 2025 because of the handover.
Four-time Port best and fairest Kane Cornes – one of the staunchest defenders of Hinkley in the media – also labelled it a transition year and for the first time under his former coach he was questioning the Power’s spirit.
Seven-time SANFL premiership player at Port, Tim Ginever said the fact the Power had not won a fourth-quarter so far this year was extremely concerning and he was seeing “blank faces and confusion” from the players in these terms.
WHAT IS KEN TELLING JOSH WHEN HANDOVER OCCURS?
So far in 2025 the issues have been plenty for the Power.
The injury list at Alberton has been a lengthy one this year, with Todd Marshall’s pre-season torn achilles and then Jack Lukosius’ fractured knee cap in the opening minutes of Round 2 meaning the Power haven’t actually got to roll out its new-look forward line after Charlie Dixon’s retirement.
The Power has already used 35 players so far this season.
But every club gets injuries.
The Power’s big issues is that its game-plan is falling down time and time again.
A midfield that has been one of the best in recent seasons is now getting belted up, and has only won three clearance battles so far this year.
A team that was ranked fourth when it came to clearance differential last year is now ranked 14th.
This is leading to the backline coming under siege and the Power just haven’t been able to defend behind the ball and stop other teams from piling on the goals.
And the offence is again being largely inefficient when the Power goes inside 50.
A new handball-heavy game style used by the Power this year looks slick when it comes off, but when it doesn’t teams are punishing Port.
So on the field there is plenty to work on.
Off the field there are some big things on Carr’s to do list.
At the top of it would be convincing superstar vice-captain Zak Butters and gun utility Miles Bergman to stay at Alberton beyond their current contracts.
Bergman is out of contract at the end of this year and his recent move into the midfield has further enhanced his reputation after starring as a hybrid-defender in recent years.
Butters’ deal expires at the end of next season.
The Power has put short and long term contract offers in front of the two Victorians.
The Power also is without its first round pick for this year’s draft, that is with Gold Coast.
So it will need the players it took last year to hit, given it has no plans to voluntarily go down the ladder and rebuild.
Already Joe Berry (pick 15), Christian Moraes (pick 38) and Tom Cochrane (rookie draft) have played AFL footy.
Jack Whitlock (pick 33) isn’t too far off making his debut, while the Power have had 22-year-old Dante Visentini as its No. 1 ruck for the last three games.
Davies said the Power was always thinking about the future, both short and long-term.
“You are often thinking about what is the benefit of getting games into x player, not only for 2026 but for the backend of 2025,” he said.
“You might say Christian Moraes right now is a good example of a guy who we have wanted to keep around the AFL team not because we think his performance right now is exponentially better than whoever it might be that comes in and replaces him but that you know in four games time ‘Chriso’ will be a better player than what he is right now.
“So that doesn’t have to mean a total rebuild and you don’t have to start focusing out to 2026 to start thinking about how we going to be better in the future and as I say the future can be in two or three games time.
“We’re going to have the same sort of conversations around Jack Whitlock who you know right now you know his numbers at SANFL level don’t look anything special but I think he’s going to be an absolute player.
“He’s got amazing hands he can mark the ball you know and we might even find, and we’re seeing this more where players at AFL level sometimes look better than what they do at SANFL level because the overall level
of skill in the game is a little bit better with all your respect to the SANFL competition.
“So they are all the things that we will look at.”
So is Carr asking for a Moraes to be played this year to help him next year?
“I think that Carry already thinks that Christian Moraes is going to be a really good player,” Davies said.
“And to Ken’s great credit. He has never shied away from playing young players very quickly (in their careers).
“I understand that everyone wants to to work out which decisions are Josh’s and which are Ken’s.
“Ultimately all of our coaches have an input into selection, but when we play at any level, Ken has the final say on who the team is coming in.”
SHOULD IT HAPPEN EARLIER?
That is what has been debated at length.
Key figures at the Power have been steadfast that the plan will run its course.
Davies said the Power would not use the mid-season bye to fast-track the handover.
But when asked if he could guarantee Hinkley would be the senior coach in Round 24 he said he was “not the type that guarantees anything … but what I do know is that right now and for the rest of 2025 that we are steadfastly focused on playing better footy than what we have right now”.
Hinkley and key Port figures have also continuously said he still has the energy to be the senior coach but was reported on Channel 9 on Tuesday night that Hinkley would walk if and when he feels the season is gone for the Power this year.
A change happening quicker than planned has been backed up by its proponents in that it would give Carr a chance to get to work earlier and prepare for 2026.
On the other hand if the Power continues to struggle would Carr really want to come in and, with Port having the hardest fixture from here according to Champion Data, get his rein off to a start where it takes him some time to get his first win?
Originally published as Inside the Ken Hinkley and Josh Carr handover: Where Port Adelaide is at and where it needs to be by the end of the season
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