As late as 9.30pm on Monday night, Mark Williams genuinely doubted he would be retained as coach of Port Adelaide.

At the end of what has amounted to a six-month re-application for the job under the watchful eyes of new chief executive Mark Haysman and president Brett Duncanson, Williams was none the wiser until Duncanson knocked on his door to inform him of his retention.

The Power's board met for nine hours before concluding that Williams remained the best man for the job, and at the best price, having accepted he would take a significant pay cut to help the club through choppy financial waters.

A grateful Williams admitted on Tuesday he had held serious doubts about whether he would be given the chance to prolong his stay at Alberton, so much so that his wife Pauline had started looking at options interstate.

"There was a lot of doubt," said Williams.

"I really didn't know exactly what I was doing, my wife was checking out what was happening in Victoria.

"Being under the microscope makes it difficult, because I was fully aware that all the new people around the place wanted to find out exactly what I was like, so you have to tread a little carefully I would think.

"There were some things set in place that they wanted to find out exactly what I was like and if I would listen to other people and take advice from other people and how I would work with (football operations manager) Peter Rohde."

Duncanson said Williams remained the best and most likely man to coach the Power to their next AFL premiership.

Williams said he now realised that doing more with less was the reality for Port, but also indicated he had doubted the club's future until AFL/SANFL intervention this year.

"The facts are without Mark and Brett and the board getting the SANFL and the AFL on board I couldn't see any way that this club could survive or be competitive against the top teams," he said.

"Once I've been in the loop of `hey, financially we're (struggling)' I was batting down one path, thinking this club was going okay, and unfortunately it was probably down the wrong path, so I'm much more understanding of where it is now."

There is little doubt the club will be a more comfortable working environment now the direction for the next two years has been established, and may provide the Power with the momentum they need to lift from a mediocre 6-7 into a finals berth.

"We've all danced around `is there an effect', but there's an effect, there's definitely been an effect," said Williams, who took the club to the 2004 premiership, six years after replacing foundation Power coach John Cahill.

"Everyone is sick to death of reading about me and seeing my photo on the back page of the paper."

As for the June 30 clause that helped create this week's drama, Duncanson chuckled when asked if there would be another in the new contract.

"We thought that might be a question," he said.

"Whether that's in the next contract we'll leave it up to Haysy and the management that represents Mark (Ricky Nixon) to decide it."

The only other two current coaches still out of contract for 2010, Collingwood's Mick Malthouse and the Western Bulldogs's Rodney Eade, are also expected to be offered new deals by their current clubs.

That leaves Richmond and North Melbourne as the two clubs looking for new coaches for next year.

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