Port Adelaide coach-in-waiting Josh Carr reviews Collingwood thrashing, talks succession plan

It was like we had fast-forwarded 12 months – Josh Carr was speaking where a senior coach would at Adelaide Oval, but it’s far from unusual, MATT TURNER writes.

You could have been forgiven for thinking it was March 2026.

Port Adelaide senior assistant Josh Carr sat in front of the Power sponsors banner in the media room at Adelaide Oval on Friday, the day before the club’s first home game of the season against Richmond.

Carr was not listed to speak at the start of the week and three other Power figures (fellow assistant Chad Cornes, senior coach Ken Hinkley and soon-to-be club games record holder Travis Boak) had done press conferences since the 91-point hammering by Collingwood at the MCG.

So it initially seemed unusual that the man in line to take over from Hinkley later this year would be called up to field more questions.

Josh Carr will officially take the reins in 2026. Picture: Sarah Reed/Getty Images

“I wasn’t surprised,” Carr said.

“Things change all the time with these press conferences, it doesn’t bother me at all.”

The reality was Port put Carr up because it did not want to go two days without someone talking in the lead-up to a home game, given the appetite from footy media in South Australia and Boak spoke on Wednesday.

Carr was due next in the assistant coaching rotation, but not listed on Sunday night – when the weekly alert was required to be sent – because the Power was undecided about filling the captain’s run gap.

Port assistant coaches speaking last before matches will become the norm this year with Hinkley shifted to earlier in the week.

Defence coach Tyson Goldsack did the press conference last Friday.

Sitting in the seat he would occupy after wins and losses from next year, Carr was asked if the post-Collingwood scrutiny from outside Alberton was an insight into what he would face.

“That’s just part of the job,” the 2004 Power premiership midfielder said.

“When the team’s going well you’re a really good coach and you’ve got to wear it sometimes.

“That’s OK.”

Carr was “really comfortable” at the role delineation amid external criticism there might be confusion among the players – something Hinkley also strongly refuted this week. 

“When there’s noise outside, that doesn’t bother me, that doesn’t bother anyone internally because we understand what our jobs are,” he said.

Ken Hinkley’s side will need to respond to last week’s humiliation. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

If it was not confusing, could it be a distraction? 

Coaching great Mick Malthouse, who went through a controversial succession plan at Collingwood with Nathan Buckley in 2011, predicted to this masthead last month that the timing of the announcement, just four weeks before round 1, would distract the players.

“You could look at all aspects of that and think about if it’s not announced, what would that look like,” Carr said.

“I’ve probably been asked a lot more questions in previous years than I’ve been asked this year.

“There’s always a distraction, no matter what.”

The succession plan will be a discussion point in the football world all season.

And it is a topic that only victories – starting against the Tigers on Saturday – will quieten.