Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams has placed his prized 2009 recruit Josh Carr on notice, revealing the premiership midfielder is in danger of losing his place for Saturday night's AFL showdown against Adelaide.

Williams mounted a noisy campaign last year to get Carr back to Alberton after he left to play at home in Western Australia for Fremantle at the end of 2004.

But since returning to Port, Carr, 29, has struggled to revive his bullocking, niggling best.

Carr has been carrying a hip complaint through the early part of the season, but against St Kilda at home in round five he could only gather nine touches on a dark night for the Power, leaving him in danger of demotion.

"I wouldn't say he's okay for this week, I'll work that out in a few days time," Williams said on Wednesday.

"He's no guarantee. There's no guarantee he'll be in the side this week (because of) both (form and injury).

"He's been a little disappointed with how he's played, but he does add a lot of knowledge, leadership and toughness to our side - we like that about him.

"Obviously, he needs to continually build on his game and where he is now is not what were going to be satisfied with.

"He's been carrying a bit of a hip injury. He's had it for a while, but we've been managing it."

Numerous other Power players, including Danyle Pearce, Brett Ebert and Michael Pettigrew, are under severe pressure this week, with Peter Burgoyne and Matt Thomas both poised to return.

"Based on last week I reckon there are 18 players that had better be training well," Williams said.

"A few of the SANFL players are really looking for the game and the players know I'm not satisfied with how we played last week.

"You might have seen a nice session inside ETSA Park (on Monday) but we went back and trained pretty hard on the oval out in the wet ... it was very physical.

"I guarantee you're not going to see the rubbish you saw last week."

The irony of Carr being so close to the edge of Port's 22 this week is that in the years from 2001 to 2004 he was as big a part of Port dominating the showdown games (winning seven of eight over the period) as anyone.

His close checking of Mark Ricciuto consistently restricted the Adelaide captain's effectiveness, and in 2002 played a part in instigating the infamous Ramsgate Hotel fracas.

"Josh has been a fantastic showdown player and we'll expect no different from him this week," said current skipper Simon Goodwin.

"He's hard at the footy, creates a presence on the ground and we look forward to renewing that rivalry.

"He added a lot to the showdowns when he played, (but) we're ready for all those antics - we're used to it and will get on with playing normal footy."

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