Port Adelaide boss David Koch has given the biggest hint yet over the coaching future of assistant Josh Carr and potential plans for Ken Hinkley's right-hand man to step into a senior role at the club in the future.
Carr has been heavily tied to the top job at Alberton and is viewed as the front-runner to replace Hinkley once his long-standing reign comes to a conclusion.
A former assistant at Fremantle and a premiership coach with North Adelaide, Carr himself has flagged he will be ready to step into a senior role in the coming years of his coaching career.
The 43-year-old was tied to the recent vacancy at Richmond but would not take part in the process, which eventually landed with the acquisition of Adem Yze at Punt Road.
Carr's decision to remain in Adelaide has strengthened suggestions he could move into Hinkley's role when the latter decides to step aside.
Hinkley too has backed Carr to one day be the man to lead the Power, crediting the premiership ex-player's coaching nous.
With questions continuing over a potential Hinkley-Carr handover, Koch told the ABCÂ this week that the club highly values internal promotions.
"Ken's really supportive of Josh developing into a senior coach. Ken has publicly said he'd love to see him as a senior coach of Port Adelaide," Koch said when questioned on Carr's future.
"We have extraordinarily high regard for him. He's gone away, he's worked at other organisations, he knows the Port Adelaide way.
"We put a lot of effort in coaching development. We would rather train up from internally than outside. We have a development coach for our coaches, so we put a lot of resources into it.
Koch declined that Carr had an understanding from the Port Adelaide board that he would be the coach to succeed Hinkley.
Carr first joined the Power's coaching group in 2011 following his retirement as a player, with the East Fremantle product eventually returning to Western Australia in 2019 via a role with the Dockers after four seasons with North Adelaide in the SANFL.
Carr returned to the Power ahead of the 2023 season, helping Hinkley's men secure a second chance come September after the club failed to reach the top eight the year prior.
Hinkley's highly-documented contract saga last year reached its cessation in August, with the Power coach recommitting to the club until the end of 2025.
