AFL 2024: All the Port Adelaide news as Josh Carr rules himself out of vacant West Coast job
Port Adelaide has been steadfast in denying that a formal Ken Hinkley-Josh Carr succession plan exists. So, will West Coast come calling for either? The Power assistant has responded.
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Port Adelaide senior assistant Josh Carr says he is staying in Adelaide, ruling himself out of making any sort of play for the vacant West Coast job.
Carr is widely considered the Power’s next coach in waiting, with industry chatter believing the 2004 premiership player is in line to take over from Ken Hinkley – who is contracted until the end of 2025.
Despite this, Carr’s name has been linked externally with the Eagles, who are looking for a new coach after parting ways with Adam Simpson.
But Carr, who spent time as an assistant at Fremantle before returning to Alberton in late 2022, said he had not had any contact from the Eagles and would be staying in South Australia.
“No not at all, I have been really clear I am here to stay in Adelaide and am not moving away from Adelaide any time soon,” he said.
“Everyone is really settled, I have moved around a bit in the last couple of years and I’m fully entrenched at Port.
“Yeah right now definitely (it is geography first).”
It follows on from Carr withdrawing from Richmond’s senior coaching race in August last year, just days before Port re-signed Hinkley.
The club has been steadfast in denying there is a formal succession plan agreed for Carr to take over from Hinkley.
But Hinkley has publicly endorsed the concept of the Power’s midfield coach eventually replacing him, telling Nine Media in February it would be “a bloody good decision”.
As pressure ramped on Port and Hinkley following the horror loss to Brisbane, some rivals clubs said their assistants, who have senior coach aspirations, would avoid going through a search for the next Power coach because they felt Carr was next in line.
Port Adelaide senior assistant Josh Carr when asked about reports out of the West linking senior coach Ken Hinkley to the vacate West Coast job @7NewsAdelaidepic.twitter.com/OI9LCXDGJ5
— Josh Money (@joshmoney__) July 22, 2024
Carr said his conversations with Hinkley were not around him taking over as early as 2025.
“What we have discussions about is how we can be better coaches, how I can be a better coach, how Ken can be a better coach, how Chad (Cornes) and Tyson (Goldsack) can be better coaches,” he said.
“So we are continuing to better ourselves and make ourselves better coaches, all those discussions are had about how we can improve.
“What Ken does is that he always stays pretty true to him as a coach, we see that passion come out a lot with him and that is what we all love to see.
“He evolves as a coach, all coaches do and all coaches are always trying to get better.
“I think we always plan to stay together.”
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Originally published as AFL 2024: All the Port Adelaide news as Josh Carr rules himself out of vacant West Coast job
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