Port Adelaide senior coach Josh Carr said the bye came at a good time, giving the group an opportunity to reset and refresh ahead of the second half of the season.
The playing and coaching groups spent time looking all phases of the game and narrowed their focus to areas for improvement, and an increase in player accountability.
Speaking with the Adelaide media on Wednesday, Carr spoke about the focuses moving forward, his mid-season recruits, and where Jack Lukosius will line up on his return to football.
Carr on having a break at the bye
“It was nice to have a break for everyone. Off the back the first half of the year, our last couple of weeks have been down a little bit, so it was nice to reset our intentions for the back half of the year, and then come back fresh and ready to go.”
Carr on reviewing the first half of the year
“How the all the phases work together, so how our offence works with our defence and vice versa. It felt like we probably just drifted away a little bit from the way that we were playing a few weeks before that. It felt like as a group, the players have led the charge and identified the focuses, what we want to look towards in the back end of the year, and there’s a lot of positivity around that.
“It just sort of built up on us a bit, whether it was the losses in a row and it felt like our form started to turn. We started playing probably too much footy in our back half, especially those last three to four weeks. Obviously, we identified that as a group, and talked about how we can help ourselves.”
Carr on addressing player accountability
“It's a bit of everyone. We talked about Zak and Hornet (being the ones that have been stepping up), but it's also how they can help their teammates at the same time and develop their leadership and what that looks like on field, as well as it being on the players around them to improve and get better and chip in. But ultimately it comes back to understanding clearly what everyone's roles are within the team, and we rely on that, and we relied on that for our first half the year, and we've got to improve with what that looks like.”
Carr on Jack Lukosius’ role
“If he's good to go, he'll start (in the SANFL). He's going well, the body’s feeling really good, and he's responded from the break, he's looking fitter and stronger, and I feel like he's in a much better position than what he was at the start of the year. We won't bring him in if he's not ready, he'll be on managed minutes if he plays this weekend and we’ll build up from there.
“The two games before Jack went out, he spent a fair bit of his time on the wing. I just keep looking at his assets and his running ability, his ability to get up the ground and his long kick. There's no reason why he can't help us out on the wing now. That doesn't mean he can't drift forward and play that role at times, but every player has to add a second role to their game, and we'll work on that with Jack. He's pretty excited. I had the conversation with him, obviously before he went there in the AFL team, but have been reinforcing that this week with him. I think he feels like he can add something there.”
Carr on his new mid-season recruits
“Yeah they’ve been loving it. Going from working nine to five somewhere to being an AFL list, as a full-time footballer is a dream for all young footballers. I think they're still walking around and can't believe it.
“(We could see them at AFL level) in the next few weeks, not this week, but in the next few weeks. If they play well enough and put their hand up for selection purely off the back of their form, we’ll bring them in.”
Carr on wanting a win this weekend
“It’s why we do what we do, we play to win games of footy. Do we need it? I think every club loves a win, but we won't let that get in the right of making sure we’re building to playing the right way, and playing with really good energy. But winning ultimately is a great platform to build confidence.”
Carr on Harley Reid
“We plan against him as we do for any opposition, and the best, and he's in great form. He's a beast inside. We're going to more than match that. I'd like to think when our players are up and about, obviously with Hornet, Buttsy, Drew, Ollie, we’ve got some good players who can go through there. If we bring it together, we can have a good game.”
Carr on Connor Rozee’s injury
“He’s still getting some (specialist) opinions on it. He’s had a couple. He’ll head to Melbourne next week, seek some more opinions, and then we'll go from there. We'll be definitely cautious with what that looks like. We want Connor back playing his best football, so to do that, we’ve obviously got to make the right call when it comes to the nerve, and whether we go in there and do something, or we let it heal itself, that's what we’ve got to decide.”
Carr on the focuses moving forward
“I think clearly in the first half the year, you could see what we're trying to do and the way that we're trying to play, so it's embedding that game style and making sure we're consistent under pressure. We know we had some really good games where we fell short, and then we felt like we drifted away from the way that we play. So consistency under pressure, whether that's measured through wins and losses, it’s probably more measured on the way we go about it. Wins do help.”
Carr on learnings since losing to West Coast early in the season
“I think we've learned a lot since that game. I think we've learned a lot about the way that we play, our game style, when our game looks like our style of footy versus when we drift away from our roles. So, I'd like to think we're more consistent in our roles and the way that we play now, as they are. They're playing probably better footy than what they played then. Not week in, week out, but their good is good, and they have drifted away from that at times, but they have shown they can play some really good football.
“The importance of us playing consistently, so whether that's against a team that's where we are on a ladder or it's above us, it's more about the way that we go about it. And if you play the right way and we play with an intensity that is consistent, week in week out, then you'll win games of football.”
