Carr and Rutten are looking forward to pre-season. Image: Matt Sampson.
Port Adelaide’s new AFL era is about to begin, with the first to fourth year players set to return to Alberton on Monday for the 2026 pre-season.
Newly appointed GM of Football Ben Rutten sat alongside club CEO Matthew Richardson and senior coach Josh Carr on Thursday to mark an exciting new phase for the football club.
Addressing the Adelaide media, the group spoke on plans for the season ahead, Rutten’s recruitment process, and how all the fresh faces are fitting in.
Rutten on why he is excited to join at Port Adelaide
“Port Adelaide Footy Club is one that I’ve certainly admired for a long time, firstly as a player and the rivalry that that is across the road with the Crows. So there’s a deep respect there. And then I’ve been in Victoria for about 11 years now, so being able to watch the previous era of Port Adelaide, the success that it’s had, and now I see just such a great opportunity to be a part of this next era led by Josh and the other coaches and the staff at the footy club. I see really exciting times ahead. And that was an important part of the reason why I saw this as a great opportunity for me to not only grow myself, but to be part of something special.”
Rutten on why a GM of Football role appealed to him
“Firstly, I think there’s a great opportunity for me to learn and grow. And I think my time as a player and as a coach, I feel like I’ve got a great understanding of high performing teams and all the different elements that drive performance and success. So, I see this as a great role to be able to support a head coach and the broader program and bring all those parts of the program together, to ultimately create a premiership program.”
Rutten on what his biggest challenge may be
“Well, maybe I don’t know that yet. Maybe the big challenge is around the corner, but certainly I think initially, for me, it’s about, how can I best support Josh in the program? I think there are some great people here already, some really experienced people from diverse backgrounds, and to be able to bring all those people together now, I think the first opportunity is how we can bring all those people together and grow together. That won’t happen overnight. I think it’s certainly a journey that we’re about to embark on as a football club and as a football department. So that’s what’s really exciting. And I’m sure that’ll be a challenge in itself.”
Rutten on there being so many new faces at Port Adelaide
“Going on a journey and starting together is really exciting. And change creates, certainly, a lot of opportunity. I see some really fertile ground here at the football club, opportunity within a pretty inexperienced playing group, a new coaching group, a new physical (performance) team as well. For us to be able to move forward together throughout this next period, that’s what’s been a real draw card for me.”
Rutten on going from rivals to colleagues with Josh Carr
“Hopefully not too many punch-ons! But no, Josh and I had some games together on the field, and, obviously a healthy respect as players, but coming together now, we’re working together on building this program.”
Rutten on his experience as a senior coach
“I think it’s certainly something I can add to the program, my experience there, and to be able to be able to help support Josh at various stages, around what might be coming up, or how I might have thought or approached different situations. But Josh is also really clear on his vision for how he wants to lead the footy club, how he wants us to play, how he wants the coaching group to function. So a lot of it will be about supporting him on his journey as well.”
Rutten said he is looking forward to supporting Carr. Image: Matt Sampson.
Rutten on where he sees the state of the AFL program
“For me, I just see the excitement and the enthusiasm. I think the last game, Round 24 last year, there were six first game players who played and competed really strongly against a team that won a final. So there’s certainly great opportunity there. And I think there were some stages throughout last year that certainly showed what the group’s capable of. We’re certainly not putting any limitations on the group. Obviously, we’re here to win and win premierships, but we also need to understand what creates the winning and creating winning processes, winning behaviours, getting people that can embed those habits within our whole group, not just the players, but our staff and our coaches as well. That’s certainly going to be the priority and the key to any successful organisation.”
Rutten on what he learned during his time at Richmond
“I’m very grateful and thankful for what Richmond’s done for me in two different stints. I learned a lot from Dimma (Damien Hardwick), also the footy club with Tim Livingstone and Blair Hartley as well, more recently. I owe a lot to them, and I’ve learned a great deal from that club. And there’ll be certainly parts that I can bring from that experience as well. But Port Adelaide have done things really well for a long period of time as well. So it’s a great opportunity for me, initially, to learn what’s happening here, what works well, and maybe be able to add some things as we go along.”
Rutten on the recruitment process for the role
“From my point of view, it’s probably happened over about three or four weeks, and through conversations, through just getting some interest in the role, to more formal catch ups and interviews with some key people at the club. The big draw card was, firstly, the people here, whether it be the people involved at the club, the football club, the passionate supporters, and I think the opportunity for me to be able to grow into a role with a program was pretty important to me.”
Learning and growing from other people is something Rutten said he prioritises in his leadership style. Image: Matt Sampson.
Rutten on his leadership style
“I think for me as a leader, it’s about people. It’s about creating the environment for people to thrive, so that people can grow together. We’ve got some great people here. I certainly don’t know everything. Josh doesn’t know everything. And we’ve got some great people here that we need to leverage off each other’s strengths, and it’s certainly an opportunity to co-create or co-author this next chapter in our history.”
Rutten on Zak Butters
“It’s certainly a priority for us to make Zak a long term player at the club. I think I’ve always been a strong believer that we’re not here to convince people to stay. We want to create an environment for people to want to stay, for people to want to come here. And I think that’s critical. And it’s not just about any one player, it’s about creating the best conditions, the best environment for all of our people to grow and get better. If they feel connected, they feel like they belong, if they feel like I can get better, I think they’re the key elements to retention and also attracting the best people. So I’m sure that’ll play out, and I know it’s going to be a bit of a hot topic throughout the year, but that’s going to be the way forward for us.”
Carr on working alongside Rutten
“I probably see him a little bit like he’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’m Danny DeVito, and we’re the succession plan twins! I’ve obviously got a lot of respect for what he’s done over he his playing career, and then his coaching career. I feel lucky to have the support in my first year of a senior coach, obviously from Trucker (Rutten), Dewy (Stuart Dew) as well, Andy Collins, with a senior head on his shoulders. And then the support from everyone around me.”
Carr on his involvement in Rutten’s recruitment process
“Richo led the led the charge with that, with Crippa (Jason Cripps), and obviously the footy club, and it got to, down towards the back end of it, and I sat down with Ben, and had some good conversations. And I was pretty excited after those conversations, and I spoke to Richo straight after and I thought he’s the type of guy that we want in our football club and to help us lead this program.”
Over the off-season, Carr has brought a number of exciting new faces into the club. Image: Matt Sampson.
Carr on Rutten not having previous GM – Football experience
“I think his experiences through his coaching career has prepared him for this moment. He spoke about growth as a group. I think that’s important. And what it looks like in two, three years for us, for me as a coach, for Ben as the GM of football will look different from what it is now. We’re going to grow together. We’re going to build this footy club to the position that we want to get it to, and we do that together. And we’ll help each other out.
“As I said, we’ve got a number of senior heads in the group that have shared the load. With what’s happened over the last six to eight weeks, what you see is, you see people stand up when, when we need them to, like Richo to, Jason Cripps, to Paul Stewart, to a number of people at our footy club. A number of people chipped in and stood up. And I thought we worked really hard to get us to the start of pre-season with a really good group. There’s a lot of excitement around the new coaches that we’ve got in. I’ve probably had a number of relationships with a lot of them. There are a couple I never worked with, but a couple that I’ve obviously played football with, in Luke Webster and Dewy. I coached Mitch Clisby and played with Jacob Surjan. I knew what I was bringing into this football club, and I know that they’re going to make our club better.”
Carr on what he’s looking forward to as senior coach
“I think just the excitement around the corner with the players coming in on Monday, the opportunity for all of us to present that program to those guys and start teaching them about what we want, and go on the journey together to be successful.”
Carr on train-on players
“Obviously we don’t have a lot of picks in the draft coming up. Obviously, there’s excitement around what we brought in mid-season and last year’s draft, and there will be opportunities in the pre-season for guys to train on with us.”
With multiple fresh faces making their debuts last season, Carr is enthusiastic about building the skills of the younger players. Image: Matt Sampson.
Carr on the succession plan year
“I think I’ll just learnt a lot about the football club, standing up under some pressure, coming together at the right times. There’s no doubt that we had challenging periods right through the year. We knew that if things didn’t start well, everyone would probably be pointing the finger towards the succession plan. But in the end, what we did, we stayed strong, and we got through the end of the season. There was a period, probably with about four or five weeks to go where, obviously we weren’t going to make finals. But, quickly the conversations with Ken was around, okay, what can we do to make the future better for our football club? That last game, as Ben said, we had six guys that have made their debut through the season. You know, that’s the bonus of having a poor season, having a few injuries, you see opportunity, and we go and win a game against a team that played finals, that won a finals game. How good’s that? Going into pre-season for those young guys that got a little taste of it, but knowing what they’ve got to do to take the next step. No regrets. I’m here, I’m coaching Port Adelaide. How good’s that?”
Carr on how he wants to make the program his own
“For me, it’s not really about change, and it’s not me about looking back and I need to change this, because they coached this before, or these people were here. It’s just about me being in charge of my style and presenting that to everyone, and then getting buy-in, and I guess the collective thoughts around what the game plan is, and then coaches making it better. There’s a license for everyone in this building to explore and make everything better. And in the end, whoever’s got the best ideas, we make that work.”
Carr on getting his new coaches all on the same page
“That was important with the new people. One is, I had a pretty good idea on the people that we’re bringing in. I don’t think it’s going to be a huge task in bringing us together, because I know they’re all selfless in their approach to their coaching, and they want to get better, but they want to do what’s best for the team. Last week, we spent a lot of time connecting as a coaching group. We spent no time on football. It was all about getting to know each other. And I feel like I’ve been with these people for not two weeks, for a lot longer. We’ve got a new leadership consultant that’s working with the players and coaches. So Nick came in, spent a few days with us last week and we finished off with a round of par three golf in North Adelaide on Thursday.”
For the players, pre-season is about bringing new things to the table and testing out their skills. Image: Matt Sampson.
Carr on what he will be asking of the players
“I want to see them, explore with what their strengths are and bring that to the table. There’s no ceiling on what they can bring, and there’s definitely no negativity around the players that we have on the list. We’ve got fresh eyes on the group. They get an opportunity with a clean slate to just bring what they bring. They got drafted for a reason. They’ve all got talent. I want to see them bring their best to the table.”
Carr on Zak Butters
“I think it’s just reiterating the message Ben just said, one is, it’s about creating the environment that the players don’t want to leave, and if they leave, it’s the hardest decision they’ve ever had to make in their life. The culture of this football club, it’s such a great culture that everyone wants to be here and if you decide to leave, then the right reasons are there.”
Carr on who he’s most excited to coach
“I’m excited to coach every player on our list and give them a fresh start, new eyes, and as I said, allow them to be who they are and grow. But there’s a lot of players on that list that I’m excited about, coaching and about opportunities that they’ll get over the pre-season.”
Carr on expectations around physical performance
“We’ve made some changes in that department. Obviously, Tim Parham is leading the High Performance team. You go through his experience, he started at GWS, came to Port, went to Arsenal for three years in a world-class, elite program, was at the Crows for a bit. I’m really excited about what he’s already what he’s putting in place for that team.”
This season will be Tim Parham’s first leading the High Performance team. Image: Matt Sampson.
Carr on coaching his own game style
“I think there’s growth in all areas of our game. Defensively, I feel that we have to tighten up. And I think if you looked at premiership teams, I think defensively, they’re always really strong. Does that mean we’re just going to be a defensive team? Not at all. Obviously, the contest is important. We haven’t been great in the contest in the last couple of years, but I think there’s a lot of growth that could be taken there. And then ball movement wise, I’m probably one that has a bit more balance in the way that we play. There’s got to be more than one avenue towards goals. We’ve got to score off the turnover, but at the same time, if we’ve got to take the contest, we’ve got to take it.”
Carr on getting the best out of his midfield
“I think the main thing that I care about is what they’re doing for the team, and what their role is within the team, and that they’re playing that and helping us. Us winning and losing isn’t going to depend on those three guys (Rozee, Butters, Horne-Francis). It’s going to depend on every player performing their role.”
