PORT Adelaide coach Mark Williams says it is unlikely former premiership player Damien Hardwick will return to the club as an assistant coach.

Hardwick met with Port Adelaide officials in Adelaide last week and it is believed the club was trying to lure the highly-regarded assistant to the club by offering him a Collingwood-type "succession plan" to take over the job from Williams.

But Williams (whose contract expires in 2011) said Hardwick was ready to take a senior coaching job immediately after serving as an assistant at Hawthorn for more than four years.

“Damien is very qualified for that [senior] position. We love him at Port Adelaide and if the opportunity arises [to get Hardwick to Alberton] that would be great,” Williams said.

“But I’m thinking Damien’s looking at senior coaching positions at the moment and currently, as I read it, this one [at Port Adelaide] is not available.”

Port has a vacancy for an assistant coach on their panel after part-time midfield mentor Tony McGuinness informed the club he was unable to fill the newly-created full-time role next season.

Hardwick is currently in the running for senior coaching positions at both North Melbourne and Richmond and Williams said he was resigned to the fact the Hawthorn assistant would be at the helm of another club in 2010.