Port Adelaide senior coach Josh Carr said there were plenty of ‘healthy discussions’ through the week with players off the back of his side’s two-point Round 3 loss.

Carr and his coaching group will welcome valuable reinforcements this weekend back into the 23, with veteran Ollie Wines and utility Miles Bergman returning.

Speaking with the Adelaide media on Good Friday, Carr unpacked selection, spoke on the importance of alignment across the club, and gave an update on Esava Ratugolea’s knee injury.

Carr on Ollie Wines coming back into the side
“I think it was important for Ollie to get a game in. One, for him to feel comfortable when he comes back to AFL level. In this stage of his career, one thing I didn't want him to do is come in and go, oh no, the game's going a bit quick. So, you know, I thought was important for him to get a game under his belt and come in and knock the door down a little bit. He'll still be on, I guess, managed minutes, and that's what you can do when you’ve got five on the bench. But his leadership around the group will be important.”

Carr on Mitch Zadow making his debut
“I think it's exciting. It's exciting for our group to have a new kid come in with enthusiasm and the way he plays the game. I think everyone's pretty excited about that. He hits the contest pretty hard, he competes in the air, and he can kick a goal.”

Carr on the tall defenders
“We thought with Berg (Miles Bergman) coming back and him going into the backs and the adjustment of the of the back line at the moment, we probably just didn't feel this week we needed Zerk (Brandon Zerk-Thatcher). Next week could be a different situation. And obviously, Todd (Marshall) will be available, most likely, next week also. So our talls probably look a bit better next week, but we feel like we can adjust and deal with their talls with the current backs we have.

“Obviously, they're a bit unknown with a couple of the young (tall) guys and what that's like. They've got some height still there, and we feel like we’ve got enough players in our team that we can adjust, if we have to, and send a tall back like we did last week with Lukosius.”

Carr on Jack Lukosius
“He'll play forward. He'll play forward again. Gets another opportunity. He was disappointed with his game last week. He also went back, and he showed a couple of things back, but he understands, as does all of the team, that we need more from everyone. He showed a little bit last week is him up the ground works for us, and is good for us. So the encouraging signs when he does get in the back half, and the front half, he can hit that long kick, and it probably allows us to explore with his role as a forward and getting up the ground and not just locking himself into a deep forward role.”

Carr on Miles Bergman playing back this weekend
“It’s definitely for the time being. It's what we need right now. We just need to shore up our defence a touch and also, with a couple of young guys down there, it just allows us to put some experience around those guys.”

Carr on asking his players to lift
“There were a lot of healthy discussions during the week and starting Tuesday. And I guess a number of those guys that would have thought, is he talking about me? They're pretty clear on who that is and where we need to lift from and the great part about it, they all owned it. All the guys that probably put themself on that list and said that they need to be better.”

Carr on the media narrative of the state of the list
“It's motivating. It's definitely that. We like to think we're finding players. Ewan (Mackinlay) has been one that's been thrown up (by media), and I've been really encouraged by the footy that Ewan’s played. He wouldn't have been that happy with last week, but the week before, he was really positive. And I'm excited about what he's got. He's got speed and he can use the footy and he can run, and he's diligent in his role, so I’m really confident in what he brings. And the rest of the group that were thrown in there, that happens when you lose games of footy. So, you’ve got to deal with that and take that on the chin. But the only way you answer this is by playing good footy.”

Carr on Will Brodie playing 45% game time last week
“If you probably look at our three weeks, there's always someone that's a little bit lower (in game time). So it is hard to spread (rotations) out over everyone, unless you want to really give guys a long stint on the bench. The way we've worked it is we have held someone back for a quarter or a half and then released them in the second half. So that was Will's role last week. And look, with Ollie (Wines) coming back, that put Will under pressure. So it came down to probably those two and Ollie got the nod.”

Carr on Esava Ratugolea’s knee injury
“He's obviously had that operation. It looks like it's probably around that eight week mark, which is a positive. It could have been longer. Obviously, there’s still bit of time to see what happens and how he recovers from it, but from all reports, it went well.”

Carr on having alignment across the club
“I think (chairman David Koch) gets misunderstood. From a club perspective, I know that he's really supportive of what we're doing and the way we're going about it, and in the end, he's the chairman, there's an accountability piece to him being the chairman. But as far as being aligned, I know that we're aligned, and I know we're aligned with the direction that we're going and he’s really supportive. Obviously, the one that comes up is about finals being a pass or not. We know what sort of club we are, and it wouldn't matter if we had 23 18-year-olds running out there, our aim is always to play finals, and that's the message we always sell. Now we understand of how hard that is, the younger your list gets, but at the same time, we're not taking that aspiration away at all.

“I think football people, and smart people out there can see what we're doing. It's not given us an excuse to lose games of footy and just accept it. And that's probably around the narrative with, you know, the finals conversation. But we're exploring with the list, there's no doubt about it, that's not giving me a cop out either. I want to win games of footy and I want to win every week.”

Carr on playing on the MCG this weekend
“It's where the biggest game of the year is played. So we're lucky to get there, and we're lucky to train on there today. I don't if you heard Mitch Zadow say, he hasn't (watched a game of footy) there before, so this will be his first time at MCG when he goes into a training session. So we're lucky to get on there to train, otherwise, he'll be running out there for the first time tomorrow in a game, and that would be the first time he's on the ‘G.”

Carr on the team’s second halves
“I don't see it as a concern. I saw the second quarter as a concern last week, and taking that foot off the pedal, and in the third quarter, we just lost our way. It wasn't a running thing or a fitness thing. A number of our players were down that quarter and responded in the last where we played a brand of footy that we would have loved to find in the third quarter.”