'Get stuck into it': new Port coach relishes challenge

Ahead of his debut as an AFL head coach, Josh Carr succinctly sums up his emotions.

"Let's get stuck into it," Port Adelaide's new coach told AAP.

"I'm excited about the year and what it looks like - and even the unknown of it; what you don't really know ... is probably more exciting."

Carr will coach a premiership match for the first time on Sunday when they meet North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium.

It has been a long time coming for Carr, who was announced as Ken Hinkley's successor in February last year.

Carr was initially an assistant coach at the Power in 2011, before becoming SANFL club North Adelaide's head coach in 2016.

In 2019, he returned to the AFL as a Fremantle assistant before returning to Alberton for the 2023 season.

"I haven't been week-to-week in the chair of being a senior coach and the pressures of wins and losses," Carr said.

"But right now, I feel like I am prepared for it and am really confident in us as a footy club to get through it together."

Port, after missing last year's finals, enter the fresh campaign with Carr content at gains made in the pre-season.

"We've still got a fair bit to go - that's the challenge," he said.

"As coaches, when you first introduce a new program, you do want to given the players the information but you have got to be careful about how much information you do give them.

"We've been really conscious of that as a coaching group.

"We have got so much to learn and to get better at but, at the same time, I feel like we have come a long way."

Carr's first season at the helm comes amid speculation about the future of Zak Butters, who has won the club's best-and-fairest award in the past three seasons.

The Victorian-born midfielder is fielding multi-million dollar long-term offers from rival clubs ahead of falling off-contract at season's end.

"We'd love to lock him away now," Carr said of the 25-year-old dynamo.

"But I get it and I understand it. And I know what his commitment to us is right now.

"And for me, it's about creating a really good environment, a really positive environment, and trying to make it somewhere where he wants to be.

"His decision is a hard one."