Carr spoke on a range of topics. Image: AFL Photos.
As he prepares for his first season as an AFL senior coach, Josh Carr feels a huge sense of responsibility to serve the club, its people, and the wider Port Adelaide community.
Speaking on club podcast ‘Peeled’, Carr was candid on a wide range of topics, none more significant than the importance of representing his people, and how this informs his actions, day-to-day.
“For me, (the fans are) my people,” he said.
“That’s who I represent, and who I’ve represented for a long time, since I put on the guernsey for the football club. Supporters always see me as a Port Adelaide person So, for me now, it’s ‘okay I’m the coach, I’m leading the club, and I’m leading our people’.
“I just think no one should see themselves as more important than any other person. I think that’s in life, in general. And I have an important role, I see that, and I see the importance around that role, but at the same time, why am I more important than a fan out there? They’ve loved and cared for this club all their life. I haven’t, because I got drafted to the footy club.
“I’ve played football at Port and now I’m coaching here, and I understand that as a coach, it’s not about me as a past player, it’s about me as a coach. But at the same time, I’m always representing our people.”
Growing up in Western Australia, Carr’s journey to becoming an AFL senior coach has been one of growth and self-discovery.
It wasn’t until he took the role as senior coach of North Adelaide that he truly recognised he had AFL coaching aspirations. To lead his own team at the highest level soon became the dream.
“When I played, I always had a really strong opinion on the way that we should play, and that was with the coaches, in leadership meetings or whatever it was,” Carr reflected.
“I probably went into coaching at the start just to go into coaching and test it out… but I never really knew if I really loved it.”
Carr was initially offered the role by Ken Hinkley as the SANFL coach of the Magpies, but he second guessed if the job was right for him.
At the same time, the North Adelaide role became available and the pull to lead his own team, rather than coach someone else’s game plan, appealed to him greatly.
“At North Adelaide, the job was free,” Carr said.
“I thought I would like to do that, but at the same time, they won one game I think in 2015. I’d be going out of the (AFL) system and if I go out and things don’t go well, it would be hard to get back in.
“I got the (Magpies) job and then Greg Edwards, the North Adelaide CEO, gave me a call…I caught up with Greg and I walked out of that conversation and said, I want to be the North Adelaide coach. I want to actually coach my own team.”
Carr’s AFL coaching trajectory has been eerily reminiscent of his playing career – in both instances, he’s started at Port Adelaide and gone to Fremantle, before returning back to Alberton.
His move to the Dockers was initially driven by the desire to play alongside brother Matthew, who recorded 162 AFL games between St Kilda and Fremantle.
“They were the conversations that I was having with mum, dad, and probably my brother a bit, around being successful here (at Port Adelaide),” Carr said.
“I remember saying, look, if I win a premiership, I think I’ll most likely go home. But saying it and doing it were two different things, because obviously it’s a really hard thing to do. I don’t think I could have left if we lost. I just don’t think I could have.
“And there was a massive build going into that (2004 grand final) with the prelim finals before it and being called chokers. I don’t know what the answer would have been, but I’m pretty sure what I was thinking was that if we lost, I don’t think I could have left.”
A natural competitor who hates to lose, it seemed Carr was always destined for life in a high-performance environment.
But despite this, he’s always sought some balance. Nothing is more important to him than family. A father of four and partner of more than two decades to wife Karolina, he’s inspired by them daily.
“(My purpose is) family, it’s 100 per cent family,” he said.
“We’ve been on this ride together over the last five to 10 years…my wife’s been there the whole way. We’ve been together for a long time. She’s ridden every bump, and obviously has been through the good times as well. But family is number one.
“I reflect on my career, that’s as a coach and player, I’ve been able to do both (have an AFL career and have a family).
“I’ve been able to go back to Freo to play football with my brother. It was four years, and I loved the four years. We didn’t have any success…but I got to play footy in front of my family. I came back to Port and finished off…I’d say I came home to the football club.
“And then I did the same thing as a coach. To go over to WA, learn my craft as a coach and come back. I just feel like I’ve had the best of both worlds from a family point of view.”
To Carr, nothing is more important than family. Image: AFL Photos.
Over the years, the now 45-year-old has developed and refined his coaching style, with some perhaps surprised about his gentle nature, given the hard edge he had as a player.
“Going and coaching North Adelaide was the best thing that I could have done, from a coaching perspective,” Carr said.
“Being in charge of my team, but also how I handled the individuals. As a coach who hadn’t coached his own team before, I had this thing in my head – I want to be Choco, I want to be Ken Hinkley, I want to be all my past coaches, but I wasn’t being myself. But I had to work that out myself.
“I think everyone has a perception of because of what I was like as a player, this is what you’re like as a coach. There’s definitely a hard edge in the way that I coach, but I guess there’s a softness in that as well with the way that I approach the individuals.
“I guess if I see players going outside of what I would deem the team values, then I just let them know. I don’t have to let them know in any aggressive way. They just need to know where they stand. And I think every player knows that if they want to play at our club, then they’ve got to fit in with the values of the footy club.
“In our footy club, there’s a lot of pressure, a lot of expectation, but I think we’ve just got to enjoy the journey a bit more. And I’m talking about the players, I’m talking about everyone at the football club. We win together, we lose together. That’s how it’s always been.”
Listen to Josh Carr’s full episode of ‘Peeled’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or the club website.
