Port Adelaide senior coach Josh Carr is taking in an unchanged side to Saturday’s Anzac Day clash after getting agonisingly close to a huge upset over the Hawks last weekend. 

Carr has been pleased with the way his group is building, with a new game plan becoming more natural and impactful as the season has gone on. 

Speaking with the media at Adelaide Oval on Friday, Carr discussed the development of young players, making plans for Geelong, and how much Anzac Appeal Round means to the football club. 

Carr on naming an unchanged side 
“It helps with, I guess, the continuity and the building confidence in their individual roles, but also obviously as a team. And obviously it was a good performance last week, and just a bit of reward for effort and performance and keep building in the direction that we're going.” 

Carr on last weekend’s post-match address 
“Most games, we do have a chat after the game. We talk about what we can take away straight after the game. And obviously there was a bit of emotion in the room and disappointment. And really, it's just about giving the players some direction for the week, really, and moving on as quickly as we can. As I said, you’ve got to be disappointed with the game, but it's important that we move on and get better, because we've got a big game tomorrow.” 

Carr on Dante Visentini 
“I thought he played a really important role for us up forward, but also to try and arrest some momentum in that first quarter, in that first six minutes where it wasn't quite working for Sweety, and to be able to throw that change in with Dante, he definitely went in and gave us a contest, and felt like it just arrested a bit of the momentum. So definitely happy with what he brought. Can he get better? I think he can improve and get better and especially kind of bit more forward craft.” 

Carr on managing Jeremy Cameron 
“It looks a bit different, because Cameron, he can be deep in obviously the forward 50, and then he can go up to a stoppage, and we're going to need more than Miles Bergman to play on Cameron to get the job done. Jonesy’s done it before. He's had that challenge, and did a really good job up until he got injured last year. So it's a probably a bit of everyone, and that's on the team as well, to make sure we're defending well as a team and not giving him the service that he that he can get. 

“We've obviously got Aliir and Todd (Marshall) there as well. And again, there'll be moments where they're playing on Jezza through the game. But we need everyone. And there's more than Jeremy Cameron out there at the same time. There’s obviously the service that gets delivered to him. They've got a very talented team. Neale’s obviously been very good. He's a big guy, but he's also quite athletic for his size. So it's not just about Jeremy Cameron, it's about them as a team.” 

Carr on Miles Bergman 
“We spoke about the continuity and his confidence and that building, and settling him down in defence. I felt like he played a really important role for us there. And I think you could see him growing as the game went on, in his own confidence and backing himself in. And he nearly helped us win the game in the end. 

“He’s obviously played his best football as a back, up until now, and he's showed signs as a mid but for us. (Playing him back) was just about settling him down, and he was all for it. He understood it, and he knows what it looks like.” 

Carr on slow starts 
“Well, you’re always reviewing your game and where we can get better, and that's been one area of our game where over the last few weeks, the last couple of weeks, where we've started slow, and it's been mainly around the stoppage and clearance. But yeah, we’ve addressed it.” 

Carr on his midfielders being tagged 
“They’ve tagged both Hornet and Butters before, and you're always planning and you're ready for whatever they throw your way, but it's a bit like the Jeremy Cameron scenario, you've got to make sure everyone's playing well as a team. So let's say Butters gets shut out and Hornet’s not having the greatest game, we need the rest of the group to be getting after it and winning footy. So Wines, Drew, Burgoyne, all these guys, it's about the whole group.” 

Carr on the Anzac Day clash 
“It’s 22 consecutive years that we've played (at home) and got to represent this round, and it's been our game. I guess there's a lot of pride within the football club. We get to pay our respects to the service men and women. They play a game before our game, they're standing on the side and I'm sure there's a lot of pride from their behalf for us to be (representing them). We know that it's not war or anything like that, but what we do, we get to pay our respects, and it's a great opportunity for our football club.” 

Carr on Zak Butters being held well last year against Geelong 
“Zak's allowed to have a poor game now and then, and he would have been disappointed with that game. In his planning and our planning, you plan for him to get tagged every week, so it's no different this weekend. We plan for it, and most likely it will happen, but if it doesn't, I guess that's a bonus for Zak.” 

Carr on Geelong’s midfield 
“You can spend a lot of time on Geelong and about the way they go about their footy, and obviously we plan for everything. We've had this discussion about tags, and do you or don't you, we just got to make sure we've got a plan, and that's the most important part. If you do tag, and what that looks like for the rest of the group, and also with without a tag, and what that looks like. So we're really conscious of their really good players and making sure that the way they get the footy can be under pressure, and making sure that our guys need to stand up when it counts. So the great players play well most weeks. So you’ve got to plan for them playing well. It's just making sure that our 18 that are on the field are playing their role. 

“We're planning, as I said, against a really good team that plays great footy and offensively are so strong, but they defend well and the ball gets in their front half and their forward 5, it's really hard to move the ball out. So, it's our system, it doesn't change really that much week to week, but we're building and we're building confidence in our system, and that takes care of the way Geelong play.” 

Carr on embedding his game plan 
“I’m feeling that the players are more confident in what we're doing and are more confident in their own roles within that system. And early on, there's a lot of probably players questioning, making sure am I in the right position? Am I not in the right position? I think it's becoming more natural in the way that we're playing, and they're feeling more comfortable in the in the way that we play. 

“I'm really confident in the team that we're rolling out there. The opportunity that the players get to go out there without Connor there, or without Esava there, there's other players that get to fill those roles. So when it comes to teaching the players the game plan, I guess we're getting a greater experience in more players being able to play those roles.” 

Carr on developing young players 
“One of the most exciting parts as a coach, and that's an assistant coach or a senior coach, is seeing an individual grow and going through a struggle and then coming out the other side. And the only way you build resilience and confidence is by doing that. We've seen that with Zak when he first started getting tagged. There were a lot of questions around him in the midfield and Connor also. And they have a three, four week period where they're battling through it, but then they come out the other side, and they become a better player, and they know how to handle it. So, you know, from Josh (Lai)’s point of view, he  was playing on a really good player, there's some great lessons in that first quarter. You don't fly on a guy that can crumb like that. How good's that? He comes away from it and the next opportunity he gets to find a really good player like that, he'll take that lesson and put into the next one. Josh was never going to get dropped off the back of that quarter. I knew what the expectations were with him. And you find out a lot about you individuals and the way they handle it. And he handled that really, really well. And I know that it'd be better for that experience.” 

Carr on Jack Whitlock 
“I'd say (he’s not developing) quicker than I expected, because he's shown it at training. He showed some great growth in the Maggies last year, from when he first played to the round five game, I think it was against Centrals, is where he kicked three goals, and he’s showed that right through his journey. So there's no surprises with his growth. But the great part about is that he is growing. He's getting better every week.” 

Carr on The Peter Badcoe VC Medal 
“Always in reflection, there's a lot of pride around winning the medal. Obviously you want to win the game, but I guess what the medal represents. And whether it's a Geelong player or a Port player, I'm sure after the game, they'll have a lot of pride in putting that medal on and what it looks like. So as I touched on at the start, there's a lot of pride in what we do. We get to be on the national stage and represent our football club, but also pay our respects.” 

Carr on Jason Horne-Francis 
“He's obviously a very good player. He's a smart player. He's one of our smartest players that we've got on the list. So he understands what the game looks like and where he's needed in certain times. And yes, he does have a luxury to be able to move himself around. Now, does every player have that? Probably not. And that's not about the other guys, it's just that if we could have two Hornets, one midfield, one forward, that would be ideal.”