THE SOUND of Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams bellowing instructions across the ground at the end of a gruelling pre-season session isn’t always met with a great response from the exhausted players, but it is music to Josh Carr’s ears.
Carr, 28, has been granted permission from the AFL to train with the Power, ahead of the December 16 pre-season draft, where he hopes to, once again, become a bona-fide Port Adelaide player.
Carr completed the majority of Wednesday’s training at the Grange Cricket Club before cooling down with ex-teammates Chad Cornes, Dom Cassisi, Warren Tredrea and Peter Burgoyne.
“Choco was great for me four years ago and his enthusiasm is really refreshing. It’s great to hear that voice again,” Carr said after the session.
“They [the Port Adelaide players] have been niggling me to come back for the last four years. I’ve still got some good friends here and when you walk back into a club like this and see 12 or 13 old faces that I played with, it makes things a lot easier.”
Carr played 105 games with the Power before requesting a trade back to his native WA, where he spent four years with Fremantle.
Carr was delisted by Fremantle after saying he wanted to return to Adelaide.
Carr established his trademark tough, in-and-under style of footy during his early days at the Power and he was hopeful he could inject some hardness into the quick and skilful young line up.
“I’m four years older. I had a lot of experiences at Port Adelaide in the older days and at Fremantle in the last four years. I’ve learned a lot and have a lot to offer to the younger guys here. Hopefully, I can guide them in any way I can,” Carr said.
“It’s all a part of their development that they get that [hardness] into their game and it’s something everyone can pick up and get better at.”
International Rules representatives Shaun Burgoyne and David Rodan were excused from Wednesday’s session, while Tredrea, Cassisi, Chad Cornes, Steve Salopek and Peter Burgoyne took it easy as they recovered from their respective injuries.
Carr, who experienced a mixed season personally at Fremantle, was confident he still had some good footy ahead of him.
“The body is feeling really good at the moment, so I’ll just take it two years at a time at this stage,” he said.
“Hopefully, [I’ll play] for the next two years and if I get another year on top of that, it will be a bonus.”
Port Adelaide, like Fremantle, struggled in 2008, but Carr didn’t rule out tasting more premiership success before career’s end.
“I don’t know [what went wrong for Port Adelaide last year] I was too busy thinking about what went wrong at Fremantle,” Carr said with a laugh.
“The Power had a really good year two years ago and everyone hops on their back about the last year, but with a young team that tends to happen.
“You can be up and down and they’ll learn from last year. Considering they made a grand final the year before, they learned a lot the next year by only having a short pre-season and that sort of stuff. I can see that all the young guys are pretty motivated and are looking forward to a good year.
“They showed a couple of years ago that they are competitive. The desire is there, they are hungry and I’m pretty sure there is a bigger season ahead of them.”