• The journey's over: Mick Malthouse won't coach again
• All the contenders for the Carlton coaching job
• Ten things the new Blues coach must fix
PORT Adelaide will do everything it can to help assistant coach Matthew Nicks win a senior coaching opportunity, despite the prospect of Carlton's search for a new coach interrupting its season.
With Mick Malthouse sacked after just eight rounds, rival clubs will need to prepare for a long period where their own assistants are the subjects of an exhaustive search at Ikon Park.
Hawthorn, the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne are other clubs likely to have key personnel targeted, with Brendon Bolton, Stuart Dew and Leigh Tudor among the favourites for the Carlton position.
Existing protocols backed by the AFL Coaches Association dictate that candidates can be contacted directly after August 1, but before then initial communication must go through club staff.
Power football manager Chris Davies said the Blues' search for a new coach so early in the season would be a distraction for other clubs, but the Power would cooperate as much as needed to help its assistants progress.
"In this situation, where a person is potentially going to go into a senior coaching role, there is no doubt it provides some disruption," Davies told AFL.com.au.
"But you understand there's a potential for that when you're in the sporting environment.
"We would hope that if we had a candidate from within our organisation that he'd be honest enough with us to let us know he was interested in the role.
"In that case the club would put plans in place if the person were to go."
Davies said Nicks, who took the reins from Hinkley for two NAB Challenge matches this year, had "significant upside" in his coaching ability after five seasons with the Power.
He was thriving in the AFL's Level Four course, where he was being mentored by former Australian cricket coach John Buchanan.
Former Australian Opals netball coach Jan Stirling, who is a leadership coach at Port, has also played a key role in Nicks' development.
She sat on the Power's last coaching sub-committee and was instrumental in luring now St Kilda coach Alan Richardson to the club as director of football.
Carlton has committed to a largely independent coaching selection panel, meaning it will approach people like Stirling to recommend its next coach.
Legendary hockey coach Ric Charlesworth has been floated as an option for the Blues given his new involvement with the AFL's Level Four course as a mentor.
Another option floated by industry experts on Thursday was University of Queensland professor Cliff Mallett, who has conducted extensive research on coaching and sports psychology.
With West Coast premiership coach John Worsfold this week removing himself from the race to take the senior role at Carlton, caretaker John Barker moved to second favourite with betting agencies behind Dew.
St Kilda's Richardson, who worked alongside Barker between 2011-12, backed his former colleague to impress during his audition for the top job this season.
"He's a hard worker, he's a very intelligent guy and he's a very witty guy," Richardson said on Thursday.
"There's no doubt it's a real challenge, but as long as there's clarity on what's expected of him and the journey they're on then I'm sure he'll do a really good job.
He's a very experienced person now and he's ticked a lot of boxes from that point of view."
