Port Adelaide struggling to fill key coaching role in wake of Alan Richardson departure

PORT Adelaide has been left "underwhelmed'' by the quality of applicants to replace Alan Richardson.

Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas is worried about the quality of candidates applying for Alan Richards...

PORT Adelaide has been left "underwhelmed'' by the quality of applicants to replace coaching and strategy director Alan Richardson and might delay an appointment until the New Year.

Chief executive Keith Thomas said the Power - stung by Richardson's late senior coaching appointment at St Kilda last month - did not have "a big pool'' to select from after applications for the key post closed last week.

He said finding the right person to replace Richardson, who was coach Ken Hinkley's right-hand man in his first season in charge in 2013, had been made difficult by most key personnel already being "locked away'' at AFL clubs.

"Richo is a difficult person to replace and with other programs around the country already locked down it's made our job even more difficult,'' Thomas said.

"We haven't been left with a big pool to choose from because most people have already made decisions and commitments about where they want to be.

"So we are shuffling through the applications and we'll see what comes of that. But I'm in no burning hurry to make a decision.

"We want to have it done by Christmas but if that's not possible I won't be panicking about it. We are not going to rush it and will take the time required to get it right.''

Port has flagged the possibility of looking outside the square to find Richardson's successor, even if the person does not have an AFL background.

Thomas said the new role would not be a replica of the one held by the highly-rated Richardson and that the club is "comfortable'' it can get through most of its pre-season training program "without any disruption''.

He said the return of former senior assistant coach Phil Walsh to Alberton had taken some of the pressure off the need to quickly find Richardson's replacement.

Walsh - officially the club's midfield manager - is playing a key role in the Power's pre-season training camp in Dubai.

But Thomas insisted Port had to add a quality person to its coaching/development panel to ease some of the pressure off Hinkley.

"If you don't fill the role then more pressure flows back to Ken,'' Thomas said.

"One of Ken's great strengths is the amount of face to face time he has with the players and the more time he has to do other stuff the less chance he has to coach players, so that's what we're trying to guard against.

"Phil Walsh will step up and (assistant coach) Matthew Nicks will do more but we don't want what Ken does best to get compromised.''