Final season: Hinkley to hand Power to Carr

Ken Hinkley will coach Port Adelaide for a final season in 2025 before handing over the reins to assistant Josh Carr in a succession plan.

Hinkley has taken the Power to four preliminary finals and is the club’s longest-serving coach, but he has agreed the final year of his contract will be his last.

Carr, a premiership player at Port Adelaide, returned to the club at the end of 2022 and has been earmarked as Hinkley’s successor for more than 12 months. The club has offered him a three-year deal from 2026.

He withdrew from the process to become Richmond coach at the end of 2023 though Port Adelaide maintained an agreement was not in place at the time. He coached at Port Adelaide from 2011-15 as an assistant before taking North Adelaide to a SANFL premiership in 2018. He then joined Fremantle before returning to Port Adelaide.

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said Hinkley told the club in the off-season this would be his last as senior coach. “Ken has had open communications with the club over the pre-season and confirmed that 2025 would be his last season as senior coach of Port Adelaide,” Koch said.

“As is his way, Ken has put the club first in acknowledging we have a coach in waiting in Josh Carr who will be primed to lead the club in 2026.

More to come

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