Port Adelaide Director of Coaching Andy Collins is enjoying soaking up the traditions of the club, while taking on the challenge of helping guide a new coaching team. 

In a newly created role, Collins is leading coach development and learning, ensuring coaches are aligned in their approach, while also supporting player education.  

Speaking with the Adelaide media on Monday, he touched on his coaching philosophies, how Josh Carr is developing as a new senior coach, and which young players have particularly impressed him so far.  

Collins on what he’s learned so far about Port Adelaide 
“Love the facilities, love the tradition of the club. The people are really cool. The drive of the players are very similar, really high standards. That's the beauty of being in the industry that we are in. Some young players coming through, which is really exciting, I like the young talent at the club.” 

Collins on the difficulty of leaving Hawthorn  
“I love Hawthorn, I was born and bred a Hawthorn supporter. Played with Hawthorn. Had two coaching stints there. Love it, it is hard to leave, but this is the industry that we're in, and to come to Port Adelaide to have this exciting challenge to help support a new coaching team, wow.” 

Collins on his own role with a new coaching group 
“That's my role, is to build a coaching team that is going to win a premiership for the Port Adelaide Football Club. I’ve got a strong teaching background, studied a little bit of psychology. Think I'm equipped for it. Had a very young coach take over my old club not so long ago. I hope that I played a role in developing that group as well.” 

Collins on the lessons he learned at Hawthorn 
“One of the cool things about Josh (Carr) and Sam (Mitchell) is they’re highly competitive young men, I’d like to see him on the footy field together again. And that's the way I remember Josh, highly competitive. One of the reasons I wanted to come here, he's got a really strong drive. We met quite a few times along the journey to make sure that I would fit within his philosophy and that I could assist him. And we’ve had a really good start.” 

Collins on how Josh Carr is tracking in his new role 
“He’s very much taken the lead, taken the lead on the club, and driving a new standard. You would have seen him, for those who were here, driving the last drill. We’ve started to do a little bit of match simulation already in our second week. So we're taking a very similar philosophy, just we need to get better, and we need to get better faster. And he's leading that charge. So if you saw the last 10 minutes of training, he's driving that.” 

Collins on his own guiding philosophies  
“Make young men better footballers as quickly as we can. And if you think about that, what that takes, it’s a strong education program, but get to know your individuals. You can't coach a team without knowing your individuals. And Josh has got a very similar philosophy to that.” 

Collins on what attracted him to the role 
“(Former GM of football) Chris Davies and I once worked together in cricket, continued our relationship when I was a coach at West Adelaide in the SANFL. He thought it was a really cool idea to get Josh and I together and as a young coach, and an older coach, we seem to hit it off. I think we're going to work really well together. Being here once upon a time in a previous life coaching West Adelaide, I was very much aware of the tradition of Port Adelaide Football Club, very much aware of Josh Carr too during that time, and particularly the early 2000s when he was such a significant leader. We spent time together over three meetings, getting to know each other, and it was his choice to make that decision (to bring me in), and one which I'm really grateful for.” 

Collins on expectations for the future of the current list 
“One of the things that has impressed me with Josh and (previously at Hawthorn) Sam (Mitchell), they've got a plan and the plan is to win a premiership. And that's really important. I think people talk about finals, you know, young coaches that are coming in with plans to win premierships. That's exciting. And you can see Hawthorn’s build. I'd like to think that Port Adelaide is going to accelerate past that very quickly.” 

Collins on the young core 
“I'm meeting them all, and Zak (Butters) just walked into the building today, we have mutual friends from Darley. And being a former coach of Williamstown, Darley’s a recruiting zone for us. So I told Zak that I tried to recruit him once as a 17-year-old, and he turned me down. But they are an impressive unit, aren't they? And I think we're only seeing the beginning of that group, and if you think about other players joining that midfield group, they're of similar age. Just imagine even a Jase Burgoyne in that midfield group, I’ve been very impressed with the young Ewan Mackinlay. And then Will Brodie just turned up too, who was a very handy player a couple years ago. So, it is exciting. I’ve got a big smile on my face as a former head of development.”   

Collins on his head coaching experience benefiting his role 
“I would hope I would be able to value add to them. But one of the things that all coaches should be is learned and these young coaches from different experiences – Dewy from Sydney, and then on to Brisbane, and he's a former Port Adelaide player, Darren Reeves from Glenelg, very impressive. And Luke Webster, just talking about these line coaches. Hamish Hartlett has been promoted. And Hamish, I remember playing him as a 16-year-old. His mind, the way he's thinking around the contest and stoppages already. Matt Lobbe, another good West Adelaide boy. I like to claim him before he became Port Adelaide head of development. Really innovative young man, from him myself, so how much I've taught them and how much they're teaching me, that's a that's a really nice thing at the moment.” 

Collins on the emerging young players on the list  
“Tom (Cochrane), what a tough kid, genuinely hard. And then you’ve got Christian Moraes, Harrison Ramm. Rammy, he's a unit. I think he's grown in the summer. Jack Whitlock, Joe Berry, coming back to the previous question, these young men have been very impressive in the three weeks that I've been here.” 

Collins on the tough parts of coming in as a new senior coach 
“Josh will still have that challenge of player list management, around player expectation, and then the enormity of coaching a football club. How do you prepare a young man for that role? Josh now is the leader of our football club, a very big figurehead. Now we have our presidents and our CEOs, but have no doubt, one of the most public figures now is Josh. I think he's more than equipped to handle it. And if I can help guide, along with Ben (Rutten) and others within this building, whether it's the president of the CEO, I think he'll be very well equipped.” 

Collins on Zak Butters  
“(When he walked in today,) I saw a young man from Darley, and we were talking about Darley and shared people that we know. I think he’s a very humble young man, and that's probably what makes him such a great footballer. Everyone tells me he’s highly competitive. I see it when I watch his videos, and what I saw walking through the door is a driven young man wanting to make a difference to a team.”