THERE was a question Josh Carr would regularly ask himself before he had been locked in as Port Adelaide's new coach.
The 2004 premiership player was drafted to Port Adelaide, spent six years at the club and then departed after playing in the club's only AFL flag to head to Fremantle. He finished his career with two seasons back at Alberton Oval.
His coaching pathway has followed a similar route – starting at Port Adelaide, then as a senior coach for North Adelaide in the SANFL before heading to the Dockers as an assistant. A return to Port at the end of 2022, seen as Ken Hinkley's long-term successor, came next.
A 15-year coaching story reaches its high point in four weeks when he steers the Power as head coach for the first time. Was it all to be in this position at Port?
"I don't think it's ever been [just] to be the Port Adelaide coach. When you go into the coaching business you've got to be really open to where you go," he told AFL.com.au.
"It probably wasn't until I went to North Adelaide where I've gone 'This is what I want to do'.
"It probably didn't really become real until I came back to Port after Freo and those conversations that were happening about what that looked like. There's a fairytale element to it that you're coaching a club you played at, but at the same time do you want to damage that?"
The risk was weighed against the reward by Carr. He chose the path of the reward.
"It's always been a thought process where you see how sometimes it can end with players in their clubs. I'm really mindful of that," he said.
"If it didn't work out for me, I know the football club's always my football club. And in the end, if it doesn't work out it'll be because I'm not good enough."
Carr's football club is a very different looking and feeling club to the Port Adelaide of 2025.
He has taken over from Hinkley officially, Ben Rutten replaced Chris Davies who departed to be Carlton's new head of football and six new assistant coaches have joined Carr's panel – Stuart Dew, Andy Collins, Darren Reeves, Luke Webster, Mitch Clisby and Jacob Surjan.
Tim Parham has been elevated to be the Power's new fitness boss, with long-time head of performance Stuart Graham departing last year, and Nick Haywood is the Power's new leadership consultant. Introductions stretched out the first meeting on the club's official return to pre-season last November.
"The great thing about it was we were together for three weeks as coaches before it and we spent a lot of time getting to know each other," Carr said. "It really did feel like once the players got there, as a coaching group we had been together for a long time.
"We (the coaches) had a couple of dinners off-site and just spent a lot of time really doing some cheesy exercises of getting to know each other but it was worthwhile."
Carr worked alongside Hinkley in two stints. He said the players would be able to best describe the differences in programs outside of personnel, but that hindsight hadn't changed his view of the succession plan which came as Port dropped to its lowest win tally since 2012 in an injury-riddled campaign.
"I would definitely do it again. As hard as it was, it would have been as hard if there was no succession plan and I wasn't the coach," said Carr.
"Does it make me a better coach? I think it does. Having those experiences with the pressure that was on us as a group and seeing how you come out the other side."
Carr was a no-backwards-steps footballer who went eye-to-eye with some of the competition's best midfielders and wore them down. He could tag and be an aggressor but also get his own ball through the midfield, and did it with a combative, physical, in-your-face attitude.
The beloved 207-gamer is more circumspect about whether that will translate into his coaching.
"It's more about an expectation about the way the game should be played and what big games look like, especially around what finals football looks like," Carr said. "So it's not really about me and what I did. It's just about what I think wins big games and how finals should be played."
The changes in Port's fitness department have made for a "different" pre-season program, with "a focus on strength and speed". Just having a healthier squad will be a start on last season, with Ivan Soldo (knee), Sam Powell-Pepper (knee) and Tom Cochrane (hamstring) the only players carrying significant injuries.
Jason Horne-Francis' summer has been interrupted by foot surgery but Carr remains confident he will be available for round one, with the midfield star crucial to Port's campaign alongside Zak Butters, Connor Rozee and Miles Bergman.
Recruits Will Brodie, Corey Durdin and Jacob Wehr will play, and Carr is buoyed by the pre-seasons of youngsters Joe Berry, Jack Whitlock and Christian Moraes heading into their second campaigns.
There are high hopes, too, for Harrison Ramm, who was selected in the mid-season draft last year and went on to shut down Coleman Medal runner-up Ben King in Hinkley and Travis Boak's emotional farewell game in round 24.
"We're pretty lucky to find 'Rammy' at the halfway mark of the year and bring him into our system. He's a 203cm key back who can run, mark and he's a baby. He's got a lot of maturing to do but he's showing some great signs," Carr said.
The club has had four players trialling for its two – now three after Soldo's injury this week – vacant list spots and the Power have until March 2 to make their list calls. "I'd say we'd take two," Carr said, adding the Power wouldn't search for another ruck to replace Soldo and would likely hold one spot for the mid-season draft.
Carr has a young family and they've already noticed him on the phone more at home across his first off-season in charge – first it was conducting job interviews and seeking out applicants for his coaching panel, then it was the Trade Period, the draft and setting up the Power's pre-season program. The next task? Nailing that first pre-game rev up.
"Coaching my own team previously helps with that and I've had those experiences before," he said. "I feel comfortable about when we get there that I'll be able to execute the right things at the right time."
JOSH CARR ON…
CONNOR ROZEE PLAYING AT HALF-BACK
"I think he's comfortable there. He leads the group well from there, seeing from behind the footy and the luxury that we've got is that he can go on ball and we've got 'Berg' (Bergman) he can swap with. There will be time that 'Buttsy' (Butters) spends a little bit of time back there, not a lot, just have to take him away from the contest a little bit. Connor's comfortable, happy and sees the game well from that position and can use his strengths."
TOP 2024 DRAFTEE JOE BERRY
"'Bez' has been exciting over the pre-season. He's quite competitive. He's got this internal competitive nature where it's not always visual, but he wants to be a really good player. He'll have his moments still but I feel like last year was really good for him. He started the year in the team, had his challenges, went back to the SANFL and had a struggle, but then came out the other side. You can just see the confidence that he's grown from being able to do that."
STUART DEW'S IMPACT
"He's got a great temperament for coaching but also for the playing group and that midfield group. He's got great knowledge of the game and the way he can relate to the players from game to training. He's been a good support for me."