PORT ADELAIDE midfield coach Josh Carr expects Zak Butters to take his place in the side to face Collingwood on Saturday night, and the dynamic onballer could be joined by other reinforcements including big forward Charlie Dixon.

Butters sat out most of the last quarter of the loss to Carlton at the weekend after experiencing soreness around his adductor, but has been cleared of any injury and should be able to front up to face the Magpies.

Speaking with the media on Tuesday afternoon, Carr spoke about the potential return of some key players, how the side will plan to face the league leaders, and his own future.

Josh Carr on whether Jason Horne-Francis could return after a week out with back soreness:

“He’s moving alright and pulled up well from the weekend off training and looking after that back so I’d also expect him to come in. He’d been struggling with that back and it wasn’t going to get any better by playing, and we’ve got the bigger picture which is the rest of the season to make sure he could get through.

"We felt it was getting worse every week and we decided to do something about it and that was to obviously not play on the weekend and hopefully he gets through training and is better and he’s ready to go. If you looked at his last month of footy he was declining a little bit and you could see with the way he was moving across the oval, he was hampered by the back so we think this week off has helped him and we’ll get a better feel for that with our main training session tomorrow night.”

Josh Carr on whether Zak Butters will play Collingwood:

“Buttsy will be fine. He’ll be playing this weekend. Scans were all clear so he’ll be right. He’s had a really good year. He was hampered in that second half on the weekend but he’s important to us. When he plays well, we play well.”

Josh Carr on Trent McKenzie’s chances of resuming following a week off with an ankle injury:

“He’s close. He has to get through training and obviously he’s a pretty quick healer. We think he’s a pretty good chance of being available this weekend. Obviously Darcy (Byrne-Jones) goes out this weekend (under the concussion protocols) but we’re a really good chance of getting a fair few numbers back.”

Josh Carr on whether the side can learn from the loss to Carlton:

“I think if you look at our last three weeks of football since the bye, has it been our best? Probably not. Does a loss emphasise some aspects of your game? It probably does. There are a couple of things in our game that have come off a little bit in the last few weeks and probably got more emphasised in the loss on the weekend. You review it a little bit harder. You try to stay consistent with how you review it but it probably does emphasise a few aspects of your game.”

Josh Carr on how the side has improved since it lost to Collingwood when the teams last met in Round 2:

“I feel like we’re a different team to then – one, within the players and the roles they’re playing. We’ve got a number of players playing different roles. I look at Zak (Butters) and he was trying to work out whether he was a midfielder or a forward, and I’d like to think he’s a lot more confident in his position. There’s a lot of change.

“Collingwood are playing great footy. They’re shown they’re probably been the best side in the competition so far.”

General public tickets for Saturday's top-of-the-table clash are officially exhausted, but fans without a ticket can still access the highly anticipated game by purchasing a Port Adelaide 3-game membership for just $100.

Josh Carr on various commentators linking him to vacant coaching jobs at Richmond and the Gold Coast:

“I guess it’s all external really. I’ve said this a lot throughout the year, my job is here as an assistant coach and coaching as well as I can here and making sure I’m doing the right thing. The senior coaching positions, I’m doing everything I can to prepare and be ready for it and when that opportunity comes, hopefully I’ll be ready.

“I’m preparing to be the best coach I can be. I’m always looking at where I can get better. At the same time if there’s a job, I’m open to having a chat but at the moment all my discussions are purely internal and making sure I’m doing a good job here. (However), I think I’ve been coaching for long enough to feel like I’m ready.”