Hinkley hoping assistant stays put as Eagles circle

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley wants highly-rated assistant Josh Carr to take charge of the Power one day, but admits he may not be able to do anything to stop him heading to West Coast, with the Eagles now searching for a new coach.

Hinkley today acknowledged Carr’s coaching potential – as well as his own inability to keep him tied to the Power.

“Josh will be an outstanding coach in his own right. I would love that to be at Port Adelaide, but I don’t control Josh’s decision-making,” he said.

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The Eagles’ decision to part ways with Adam Simpson on Tuesday has sparked a chain of events, with Carr emerging as a potential candidate for the vacant position. 

While wanting him to stay in South Australia, Hinkley said he would back his assistant if he sought out the West Coast role.

“If Josh has something that he wants to pursue, I would be very supportive of that for Josh,” he said.

Conjecture around Carr’s future comes as the Power is faced with doing what no team has done this year: beating Gold Coast at home.

Hinkley isn’t taking the challenge lightly despite the Suns’ loss to North Melbourne last weekend.

“They had a disappointing game last week,” he said.

“We heard what Damian (Hardwick, Gold Coast coach) said, we expect that they’ll be breathing fire a little bit, and for us to go out there and match that.

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.