Port Adelaide senior coach Josh Carr said his side’s best football has challenged good teams this year, and he hopes they can do the same on Saturday night. 

Preparing for second-placed Sydney at Adelaide Oval this weekend, Carr is concentrating on the playing group ‘playing the right way’ and getting the game on their terms early. 

Speaking with the Adelaide media on Friday, Carr touched on Connor Rozee’s injury, what he’s seen from debutant Xavier Bamert and how he wants to approach the Swans. 

Carr on Connor Rozee 
“It is frustrating, but at the same time not unexpected with the type of injury it was, and I think we all saw how it looked. We knew that the nerve copped a pretty big whack when it happened. He had quite a speedy recovery at the start, but then he hit a bit of a roadblock along the way. So it’s obviously flattening, but at the same time it's been a great opportunity for him to get better as a leader. I've seen some amazing progress in him and his ability to get around the younger guys and build that connection with those guys and really use it as a real opportunity to grow as a leader. And I reckon when he comes back he's going to be a better leader, but also a better player. 

“He’s just been spending the extra time with those younger guys during the game or after a game or before a game. I saw him with Tommy Cochrane before the game last week, and the great thing about Connor is he's played in every position. He started as a forward and he's played back and played mid, so his ability to be able to talk to young guys, especially, through those moments and help them get better quicker…we as coaches, you like to be able to give those young guys something, but as your captain, to be able to spend that extra bit of time with those players and help them get better is something that we're pretty lucky for in a lot of ways.” 

Carr on Xavier Bamert  
“We saw, obviously, a fair bit before we picked him up that we liked, with his ability to get up the ground. He's got a big tank, he can mark the footy, and he's good on the ground, and he hits the scoreboard. So he came in, and he did that last week in the Maggies, and I think there's a role there for him in our team to be able to play as that high half forward and get up the ground and maybe pinch hit on a wing at the same time.” 

Carr on Harrison Ramm 
“He performed last week in the Maggies, so that's the first thing he had to do, but it is an opportunity to get a game into him and get him to play on a quality opposition player, and the match-ups are there for him to be able to play as a key defender. He gets to play with Sav and gets to play with Aliir and learn from those guys, but there's still an expectation that he performs.” 

Carr on the wing role 
“Yeah, I don't think we're on our own in the competition. The wing role has changed a lot over the years. I reckon Peter Matera would be looking at the wing role now and thinking it's a lot different than what he used to do. That type of player, what it looked like to how important it is for your structure, and to help you defend, but also obviously help you attack. You can get stuck, you can get stuck out there if you're not moving the footy, you're not switching it, then a player can get stuck on the other side and not have a huge impact. So, what's important for us is about what it looks like from a role point of view, and it can be a low possession game. But to answer your question, we're working through it. We've had to shift players back because of injuries, and Jase (Burgoyne) has been one of those guys, but it'd be nice to be able to get some stability with that role.” 

Carr on Kane Farrell’s return 
“It is (good to have him back). He's grown with his leadership this year, and to be able to keep that group together as much as we can would be nice without the injuries, but every good defence has usually played a lot of footy together.” 

Carr on the win last weekend 
“It was good. There was some great energy after the game, obviously a close win to get that, but also during the week to reflect on a win rather than always feel like you're having to teach and learn from the losses.” 

Carr on Sydney’s strengths  
“Their ability to move the footy from one end to the other, they're solid in all areas. There's not really an area there that they struggle in. They defend behind their stoppages, they transition the football and then they defend transition at the same time, so time in front half is going to be important for us and getting it into our forward line and giving our forwards a look at it.” 

Carr on Joe Richards playing midfield time 
“We've been building that and then last week we pulled the trigger and pretty much played him more as a mid than any time forward. We like his ability to get after the ground ball, his reactions, and then that speed to break lines. He's still learning a lot around the stoppage and the structure and body work in CB (centre bounce) and things like that, but he's a guy that learns really quickly.” 

Carr on playing on Adelaide Oval 
“Well, it's different to the SCG, so the Swans have to come here and play on a different ground. So, yeah, there are some tricks to Adelaide Oval, and I think it helps teams defensively, but at the same time, you still can move the ball from one end to the other. For Xavier (Bamert) himself, I think he's just pretty excited to play on the ground that's an AFL ground.” 

Carr on Ollie Wines 
“I think he played 60% game time last week, and it probably doesn't look like a lot more than that for Ollie. We feel like we get the best out of him when he sits between the 60 and 70% mark. So Ollie's just got to bring his strengths, and that's getting in the contest and winning contested footy. That's all we need from him as a team. He's feeling good, and his body's feeling good, we're really careful about the way we manage Ollie through the year.” 

Carr on playing against the Swans 
“I think we’ve just got to play the game the right way. I spoke about giving our forwards a look at it. We do need to increase our inside 50s, we have been getting stuck in our back half at times, especially over the last six to seven weeks, so the opportunity versus Sydney versus playing someone else, we get to play against a quality team and we get to test ourselves against a really good outfit in Sydney. So I think our best football this year has challenged most sides, and I don't think Sydney's any different. I think if we can play our best football, then we'll get a good look at it.” 

Carr on planning for Isaac Heeney 
“Chad Warner, Heeney, Blakey, we have to have a plan for all of them. I don't think it's any different than any other team. We need to get our game going right, and if we don't get that going right, then what you have to do is you start moving magnets, and you have to start trying to shut down opposition players. So, we have to have a plan, and we've got a plan, but we always start with making sure we get our plan right first.”