GWS assistant coach Brett Montgomery is reportedly seen as a "highly likely" chance to return to South Australia ahead of the 2025 AFL season.
Montgomery departed Port Adelaide at the end of the 2022 season to join Power premiership teammate Adam Kingsley's cause at the Giants following the New South Wales club's lowly 16th-placed finish.
In his 14th year as an assistant coach at the top level - having held roles with Carlton and the Western Bulldogs before returning to Alberton in 2018 - Montgomery has continued to build his coaching CV since retiring from his playing career, becoming one of the more highly-rated deputies.
The 51-year-old's position with the Giants saw him return to the club following his brief stint under Leon Cameron as an opposition analyst before moving back to Port Adelaide, with Montgomery taking on the role of coach of the Giants' backline.
Montgomery led the Power's middle ranks in his final year with the club he played 126 games for to start this century.
The one-time All-Australian is now expected to return to South Australia and join Adelaide's coaching team at the end of this year, withย 9 Newsย reporter Tom Morris stating a move to West Lakes for Montgomery is now "highly likely to get done".
The Giants are said to be "resigned" to seeing their assistant coach poached by the Crows as clubs begin to settle on their coaching cohorts for next year.
"My information this morning is that this is highly likely to get done, that Brett Montgomery will be an assistant coach at the Adelaide Crows next year," Morris told SEN Breakfast.ย
"We're getting towards that time of the year now where if assistant coaches don't know their contract by August 1, then in all likelihood they're told to look elsewhere. We're a month away from that.
"Montgmorery has been living away from his family. The Crows really like him and I think the Giants are now resigned to the fact that they'll probably have to lose him. It's hard for him to be away from his family.
"He has impressed people at the Giants exceptionally well... strategically, tactically. The biggest knock on him was some of his man-management techniques, but my belief of what he's developed over the past 12 months (has improved) massively, to the point where people now see and believe that he can be an AFL senior coach."
Adelaide's coaching group is currently home to experienced heads Scott Burns and Nathan van Berlo under senior coach Matthew Nicks, while the SA club lost James Rahilly to Geelong last off-season.
Nicks has faced mounting pressure on his role across the course of this season despite recommitting to the club in March on a new deal until the end of 2026.
The Crows have amassed five wins from their 15 games in 2024 so far, with an upset victory over the Giants over the weekend alleviating some of the pressure on Nicks' shoulders.
The expected addition of Montgomery would see Adelaide gain 27 years of experience in the AFL, with the South Croydon native starting his playing career in 1997 with the Western Bulldogs.
Montgomery held two playing stints at the Kennel to record 78 matches in the blue, white and red - bookending his six seasons with the Power.
