Yartapuulti assistant coach Josh Carr said despite the five-point loss at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, the playing group produced one of its most consistent performances of the season so far. 

In one of the closest and most competitive rivalries in the league, Kuwarna claimed bragging rights in Showdown LVII to bring the ledger to 29-28, despite Yartapuulti’s dominance with contested possession and at stoppage. 

Carr spoke to the Adelaide media on Monday to review the game, discuss how the group is constantly seeking improvement and how much the club looks forward to celebrating Sir Doug Nicholls Round. 

Carr on Saturday’s Showdown 
“Yeah, look, there's obviously moments in the game that we thought we could have been better at and, I guess defended a little bit better, and in all facets of a game, so not just defence, but obviously moving the ball inside 50. But overall, we thought we played the game the right way, and both teams put on a good performance, and in the end, the better team won, but we weren’t far away.” 

Carr on where the group is at 
“We can only take care of right now, and that's obviously, you know, our performance on the weekend. As I said, there were a lot of positives to take out of it, and areas of our game and our game plan that we can get better at. So for us, we're playing against Geelong this week. We know what this competition is like, and it's been like this for a couple of years now that everyone through this competition, there's 15, 16, sides that can get on a run and can win on their day and play really good football, and you're never too far away from it. So we know that things can change pretty quickly, and we've had moments of inconsistency this year. But if you look at the weekend, I thought it was one of the most consistent games we played this year. So for us, it's about building that consistency, and then I think the results will look after themselves.” 

Carr on small moments within games 
“Oh, look, there's things that you can have an impact on in game, and there is a little bit of luck sometimes. I think it's about composure in those moments, you know, those moments that are late in the game, and you always get a chance. If you're within a goal with a minute to go, you're going to get a chance of going inside 50. You’ve just got to make the most of it. And we weren't able to connect inside 50 at that time, and unfortunately, we didn't get the four points. But we still walk away saying, if we can play like that more often, then we're going to be more than a chance to come away winners.” 

Carr on the loss despite some of the team stats  
“I think the stats do lie sometimes, because we obviously dominated the clearance and when you dominate clearance like that, you do get inside 50s, and obviously more of them, but it's more inside 50s under pressure. So it's not as easy to connect inside 50 from a stoppage. But we've been pretty disappointed in that area for a number of weeks. So that was a pleasing sign for us as a team to get that in favour of us and play the game the right way. And we don't need that dominance every week, but what we need to do is make sure we're more than breaking even and giving ourselves a chance to get the ball in our front half. So, you know, as far as the connection part of it, you know, we still had some great looks going inside 50 and finished that off. There were moments that we could be better. But I don't know if that's any different to any other week. There's always something that you can find to improve in your game.” 

Carr on addressing inconsistency in performance  
“Well, the first part is we have been a really good midfield team, and a stoppage team, which we haven't been this year. So that's the first part of it, you know, is getting it right there and giving ourselves opportunities to own the ball in our front half, and we hadn't done that until the weekend. So you know, we've got to get all parts of our game right to be a consistent team, and that's your system, and we have me doing that this year. So you know, the weekend was probably the first game where we felt like we got most parts right in our game, and if we can do that, then, as I said, that'll help us go a lot better.” 

Carr on taking positives from the weekend into the next few weeks 
“Yeah, you’ve got to use it the right way. You’ve got to use those positives the right away. And we've reviewed the game as a team, we've just come out of our team meeting. So yeah, we show the areas that we do really well but we also show areas that can hurt us, and did hurt us in that game. So, you know, there were a couple of moments in the game, back end of the second quarter that we could have stopped the goals that we could have stopped, and we didn't. So we need to tidy up that.” 

Carr on Jeremy Finlayson 
“That was a really good game for him. He's competing inside 50 when the ball came his way and obviously got a few shots on goal. So again, you know, that comes in line with the team, doesn't it? You know, as far as consistency in your performances week to week. And that's what we need from Jezza.” 

Carr on Miles Bergman in the midfield 
“He added a different dimension to that midfield with a big body and a defensive aspect to it, obviously did a really good job on their captain, who's had an outstanding year. So we were really pleased with Bergs in there, and we definitely feel like he adds something to that group. 

“(Where Bergman plays moving forward) is about what's best for the team. And we've seen with Connor going back, we've used him in the midfield over the last month also, you know, last week against the Bulldogs, he spent nearly a half in the midfield, and having Berg come into the midfield as well…it adds to our group. He's a team first player, and he'll do whatever it takes to for us to win. And as you know, I think everyone wants to play midfield, I don’t think there’s a player out there that doesn't want to play there, but Berg’s been given that opportunity. He's taken that opportunity, and as I said, he adds to it.” 

Carr on Dante Visentini 
“Yeah definitely (he deserves another go). I think the positivity that he brought into the group, with the way that he goes about his game, with the energy that he plays with. He's tough, and he's got upside in his development as well.” 

Carr on Travis Boak’s SANFL performance 
“He obviously had a had a good game in the SANFL, so obviously we haven't had selection yet, but he put in a good performance.” 

Carr on Willie Rioli 
“It's good to see Willie back in the group and in our meetings and have him around. We love having Willie around and a part of the group. And at this stage, he will be putting his name up for selection. We all (check in on him). You know, everyone at the club supports each other. That's not just the welfare department. We’re the Port Adelaide Football Club, and we're all as one, and we look after each other. And he's a part of us. We make sure that he feels comfortable around us.” 

Carr on Sir Doug Nicholls Round 
“We're a proud football club with great history with our Indigenous players, and we embrace it. You know, we've got great history with our champion players that have Indigenous backgrounds. And you know, for me personally, I understand that I wouldn't have a premiership to my name, without my teammates and the influence that they had on me and our team. So I'm grateful for it, but as a football club, we're more grateful for it.”