Coach Josh Carr - AFL Senior Coach

[Port_Girl_92]

Carr fronted up really well this morning and, to be honest, I think he handled a tough situation exactly how you’d want your coach to.


He took ownership of the “disrespect” comments without throwing the players under the bus, which is what good leaders do. It was pretty clear listening to him that the messaging came from him, not the players going rogue, and he addressed it internally as a standards issue rather than making excuses for the loss.


I also liked that he didn’t overreact to the media noise. He made it clear that it wasn’t the reason we lost, just something to learn from. That shows he’s focused on the bigger picture rather than chasing headlines.


His comments about us being in a transition phase were also honest. We’re not bottoming out, but we’re clearly building around a younger core, and he backed that group in. That’s probably the most realistic assessment of where we’re at as a club right now.


And on the Butters stuff, he didn’t get dragged into the theatre. He kept it about looking after the player internally, which is exactly what you want if you’re serious about culture.


Overall, I’m backing him. He owned the mistake, protected his players, and stayed focused on standards and direction. That’s a coach you can build with.

 

[TazD]

Damoslop

 

[FrankDrebin]

I think it's pretty fair. Being full strength and getting smashed by North Melbourne deserves criticism. We wouldn't want to show that same lethargy this week.

 

[Steve Dore]

Damoslop

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Did Barret sleep through the 2025 season?

 

[FrankDrebin]

Too many hinkley comparisons, just move on and stop living in the past.
We need to win this week that’s all that counts.

Couldnt agree more. Ridiculous to just say the ghost of Hinkley is still haunting the playing group and will take 12 months to eradicate it. Nathan Buckley coached CWD for 10 season and by the end they were a rabble. It didnt take Craig McCrae 12 months to 'de-buckley' the CWD playing group.

 

[PowerLil]

"Fair-weather supporters" you purple wearing flog Damo.

 

[Steve Dore]

Couldnt agree more. Ridiculous to just say the ghost of Hinkley is still haunting the playing group and will take 12 months to eradicate it. Nathan Buckley coached CWD for 10 season and by the end they were a rabble. It didnt take Craig McCrae 12 months to 'de-buckley' the CWD playing group.

The Collingwood players didn't worship Buckley as their Daddy.

 

[Sheeds]

Did Barret sleep through the 2025 season?

At the very least slept through large portions of the last 13 years when Port didn't make a Grand Final and failed when it mattered most in important games, had a negative win % against top 8 sides for 12 of 13 years, only three final wins in the last decade and missing finals in 2015,16,18,19,22 and 25.
Carr has coached one solitary game at AFL level FFS.

What is wrong with these people? Those stats don't seem right for a Serial Winner do they Damo?

 

[Steve Dore]

At the very least slept through large portions of the last 13 years when Port didn't make a Grand Final and failed when it mattered most in important games, had a negative win % against top 8 sides for 12 of 13 years, only three final wins in the last decade and missing finals in 2015,16,18,19,22 and 25.
Carr has coached one solitary game at AFL level FFS.

What is wrong with these people? Those stats don't seem right for a Serial Winner do they Damo?
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So the "man in demand" couldn't get a coaching gig anywhere. Barrett on the money yet again.

 

[Lefti93]

Damoslop

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Holy moly, this bloke hit a new low in journalism I didn't think existed.

 

[SC_Power]

I think it's pretty fair. Being full strength and getting smashed by North Melbourne deserves criticism. We wouldn't want to show that same lethargy this week.

The observation, fair.

The targeting of the coach after game ONE and comparison with a 13 year zero Grand Final coach is not.

Tim Watson said it best when Barrett tried to defend AFL Media’s independence

“I just have this to say about ‘The Voice of Treason’ – and that’s who he’ll be known as henceforth. This ‘holier than thou’ attitude towards journalism, but is inconsistent in the true values of journalism,” This is how I see it: He holds biases, he holds petty grudges, he loses his balance – which is a fundamental plank, I think, of journalism. I know he thinks I know nothing about it, but I think it is what journalism is all about,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

If we were just "fair-weather supporters" surely we would have attacked Carr the same way Damo believes Hinkley would have been attacked. It's a totally illogical conclusion.

If anything, it shows we are actually committed supporters who think about our football and understand that a new coach needs time to implement his way of playing.

He's not someone who has been there 13 years and should have a group well-prepared to play the way he expects as a coach from round 1.

And to the posters who tell others to move on with the comparisons, sorry but comparisons between coaches is a football given since Adam was a boy. When Jack took over from Fos, they were compared, especially when Jack changed the way Port played and lost a few early games. When Russell took over from Jack, again comparisons were made to Jack (especially when we kept losing finals). Heck even when Hinkley took over from Primus, guess what happened?

And really if you're looking for blame, send it towards the club who at every opportunity stuffed Hinkley and his relationship with the players down our throats, especially in the later days of Chez Nous as they justified his contract extensions. We became a cargo cult, just believe if you follow all the rituals of football, great god Hinkley will deliver the promised land.

That the backlash against this indoctrination still reverberates shouldn't be a surprise.

 

[Doctor Feel]

Being called fairweather by a w***er journalist who hadnt even yet arrived on the scene during our nadir at AAMI is cute.

He can fellate my eggplant.

 

[Scodges]

Thinking back, didn’t the giants lose to west coast early in Kingsleys first year? Could be a similar situation if trying to install that old school port Adelaide arrogance which the group may have not learnt properly yet.

I hope that’s all it was.

 

[Peninsula Boy]

It is good to see Carr get more scrutiny for one game than 13 years with Hinkley and he handled himself well.

All of the idiotic sharks are doing their thing.

 

[Launchpad McQuack]

At the very least slept through large portions of the last 13 years when Port didn't make a Grand Final and failed when it mattered most in important games, had a negative win % against top 8 sides for 12 of 13 years, only three final wins in the last decade and missing finals in 2015,16,18,19,22 and 25.
Carr has coached one solitary game at AFL level FFS.

What is wrong with these people? Those stats don't seem right for a Serial Winner do they Damo?
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[johnnysix]

Loved Josh on SEN today. Bit back pretty hard when Kingy had a go with his "your club isn't in a position to be disrespecting anyone" comment. Loved his "well you don't know what I said" response. He won't take any shit and it's nice to see him so strong in his first few interviews as head coach. Didn't shirk anything.

 

[Sheeds]

The fairweather tag and even the whole "ungrateful and unhinged Port fans" Is a strange narrative the media like Damo have used toward long-term members and supporters who have poured thousands of dollars into supporting Port Adelaide over the journey. People emotionally invested who have been there through thick and thin and care deeply about the football club and just want the best chance of some long overdue success.

Yet thinking it is time for a 13 year coach who has not achieved success be moved on to give someone else an opportunity is seen as a completely unreasonable response to a tenure the likes we have never seen and never will again.

 

[johnnysix]

And that means absolutely fk all unless your going to woffle on forever about the past.

Sorry, I thought you were the one referencing the past....

 

[Steve Dore]

.... We became a cargo cult, just believe if you follow all the rituals of football, great god Hinkley will deliver the promised land.

...

Spot on.

This is why I believe that Carr is not going to be able to change the players flaky attitude in one preseason. The cult of The Daddy and the ethos of the Kenny Hinkley Football Club is ingrained in the majority of the playing group.

If The Daddy was under pressure they'd play well, if he wasn't they'd just coast as we saw on Sunday. If things got tough they always had the knowledge that it was a tough competition and someone has to lose.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

We don’t seem to be the darlings of the AFL now Kenny has gone.

Just bizarre

 

[Steve Dore]

We don’t seem to be the darlings of the AFL now Kenny has gone.

Just bizarre

Josh Carr is a Western Australian and played for two non-Victorian clubs.

 

[Scholz Supremacy]

Josh Carr is a Western Australian and played for two non-Victorian clubs.

Spot on.

Josh Carr hasn't got one Victorian bone in his body.

 

[Duck Farmer]

I must admit I did get a bit tired of all the premierships we were accumulating under serial winner Hinkley and sort of took it for granted.

Maybe I should cut Josh some slack.

 

[braverobot]

Who gaf what this bozo Damo writes. No one remembers the shit he says in them 10 mins after reading it. The whole AFL media is just one long reach around anyway these days.