Who is Josh Carr? The hard-nut Port premiership player set to take the reins from Ken Hinkley

A hard-nut premiership player, 10-0 in Showdowns and right in the middle of the infamous Ramsgate Hotel dust-up. The next coach of the Power is Port Adelaide through and through.

He’s a premiership player who never lost a Showdown and was at the centre of a famous moment in South Australian football folklore.

Josh Carr was drafted by the Power 26-years ago, played in its sole AFL premiership win to date and was in the middle of the Ramsgate Hotel dust-up between Port and Adelaide players in 2002.

On Wednesday Port Adelaide confirmed a long-mooted coaching succession plan in which Carr will take over from Ken Hinkley at the end of this season.

Drafted by the Power from East Fremantle with the seventh pick of the 1998 Draft, Carr did not play a game in his first year because of injury.

Josh Carr will take over at Port in 2026. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

But once he did get onto the park the hard-nut midfielder became one of Port’s most important players.

He would win Port’s best first year player and most improved player in consecutive years while he won the Power’s best team man two years in a row as part of the Mark Williams’ side that dominated but could not make it to the grand final.

When the Power finally did and won its first and only premiership in 2004, he was vice-captain alongside Warren Tredrea for that season – with the now Port board member captaining the team that defeated Brisbane after Matthew Primus’ injury.

After that win he announced he wanted to join Fremantle to play with brother Matthew, where he spent four seasons at the Dockers before rejoining the Power in 2009.

In 2010 he announced he would retire after Showdown 29, which the Power won to give him a perfect 10-0 record against fierce rivals Adelaide.

While he didn’t win a Showdown Medal he was always an outstanding performer in the fixture and would often tag Crows legend Mark Ricciuto with their duels always a highlight.

The two were central to the now infamous Ramsgate Hotel brawl between players from the Crows and Power in 2002, that has gone down in football folklore.

For a while that was what Carr was known for away from his exploits on the field.

But since he called time on his 207-AFL game career, he has been building up quite the coaching experience.

From 2011 to 2015 he was an assistant for the Power, under Primus and then Ken Hinkley after his appointment.

He then got the chance to coach in his own right at SANFL side North Adelaide.

After a second bottom finish in his first season and then a wooden spoon in his second, Carr guided the Roosters to their 14th SANFL flag and first since 1991 in 2018.

That came after the controversial preliminary final against Woodville-West Torrens where North Adelaide started the final quarter with 19-players on the field.

Carr would spend one more season after the flag win at Prospect Oval before again heading to Fremantle, as an assistant coach to Justin Longmuir.

Carr was a combative footballer.

Carr played in Port’s 2004 premiership.

Mentoring the Dockers on-ballers, Carr played a key role in their rise from 11th in 2021 to a semi-final in 2022.

After three seasons at Fremantle, Carr was again lured back to the Power to be its senior assistant and midfield coach at the end of 2022.

He’s helped improved the likes of Andrew Brayshaw and Zak Butters, both two of the best midfielders in the game.

Former Port teammate and coaching colleague Jacob Surjan said Carr was a potential AFL coach-in-waiting and his relationship-building and honesty was a big asset for him and the Power.

This caught the eye of rival clubs with Carr on the shortlist for the then vacant Richmond job in 2023 before he withdrew from the race.

At the same time key Power figures had said that he would be a senior coach one day.

Come the end of this season, those words will become a reality.

Originally published as Who is Josh Carr? The hard-nut Port premiership player set to take the reins from Ken Hinkley