Matthew Primus Biography

Former AFL players Tony Modra, Chad Cornes, Matthew Primus and Tyson Edwards were among 10 contributors to South Australian football inducted into the SA Football Hall of Fame.

Suns assistant coach Matthew Primus says he is not interested in taking on the senior coaching role at Melbourne.

"No, I'm just focusing on my role here, really enjoying it," Primus said.

"I'm really looking forward to the next 10 weeks, trying to get some wins and pushing ourselves up the ladder."

Sacked Port coach Matthew Primus has taken a job with the Suns as the club's midfield mentor.

"Matthew's ability to educate and develop our ruckmen and key position players, as well as working with our midfield group, ensures our playing group will benefit from the best possible tuition as we continue to develop our list," Suns football manager Marcus Ashcroft said.

Brett Ratten pulls out of the race to be the Power's next head coach as Gold Coast confirms that they have approached both Matthew Primus and Brett Ratten to fill a role at the Suns as senior assistant coach.

"We are committed to expanding our coaching panel for the 2013 season," a Suns' spokesman said.

"Matthew and Brett both have senior coaching experience and we believe have a significant amount to offer our club should we be in a position to secure either of them."

Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas confirms Ratten's decision to withdraw his interest in becoming the Power's next senior coach.

"We respect Brett's decision,'' said Thomas.

"We are comfortable with Brett's decision as we work through the field to find the best candidate.''

After a humiliating loss to GWS, Matthew Primus is replaced as Port Adelaide coach by Garry Hocking, with president Brett Duncanson to stand down.

"I was given the offer to coach the next four games but I don't think I'd have the passion or the substance to coach the playing group, so therefore I'll finish up now," Primus said.

"The club has given me a huge amount as a player, a captain and as a coach of this great football club.

"I'll maintain this club is on an exciting journey full of promise and there's a group of players here that are willing to be good players and want to be a lot better than what they are now, and although I won't be here to grow with them on that journey until they are a very good team, there's going to be some enormous challenges.

"If they stick fat there's going to be some exciting times for them.

"It was a dream come true to coach this team … I wanted to coach this team for another 10 years if I could."

Matthew Primus' tenure as coach of Port Adelaide is reported to be over following an embarrassing loss to GWS.

"I've said all year we've improved, now that sounds hollow," Primus said after the game.

"And it makes you feel sick saying that. The group have come along in leaps and bounds since last year, but today just wipes all that out."

Assistant coach Shaun Rehn is reported to have been appointed by the club to take over as interim coach of the Power.

Port coach Matthew Primus is open to the idea of appointing a director of coaching.

"If the right person became available we'd certainly look at it," Primus said.

"You always want to try and see what's the best fit and what you think you need and what best fits the way you want to play the game and the way you want to coach."

Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas tells fans to relax as he guarantees Matthew Primus's future despite the club sitting on just one win and five straight losses to start 2012.

"We have to keep some perspective around the position that Port Adelaide is in. The club is not in a poor state, in a shemozzle," Thomas said.

"The team and the coaching group is a work in progress ... but we are very confident that we are improving. We have had a setback on Sunday, but let's not jump at shadows after six rounds."

Defender Jackson Trengove defends head of coach Matthew Primus after a backlash from Power supporters following a 1-5 start to the season.

"I think it's absolutely ludicrous that they're coming out with these words about Matty and his position at this football club; we're 100 per cent behind him," Trengove said.

"It's laughable that they're actually bringing this up in the media and saying that he hasn't developed our group and hasn't pushed us forward."

Coach Matthew Primus expects his job to come under fire following Port's disappointing 37-point loss to Richmond, the Power's fifth loss on the trot.

"I'm the coach of the club, our performances haven't been great so no worries, I expect to be under the spotlight," Primus said.

"We'll get bashed this week and so be it, our performance dictates that."

Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus says he is unconcerned about not being guaranteed a future at the Power beyond this year.

I don't really care if I've got a 10-year contract or a one-year contract," Primus said.

"I'm just worried about focusing on this year and how good we can be as a footy club and whatever happens with that (contract talks) will play out towards the end of the year.

"If we tick the boxes this year and do as we've set out to do then everything else will take care of itself."

Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus' contract will be reviewed at the end of the season, Port Adelaide's CEO Keith Thomas has revealed.

"The way I would interpret the contract would be that he's got a three-year contract with an opportunity to review it at the end of this year, which we would do as a normal practice anyway," Thomas said.

"The reality is that I meet with Matthew every week and that discussion (contract review) will be an extension of that. There's nothing unusual about it at all."

Retiring Port Adelaide veteran Chad Cornes admits his close relationship with coach Matthew Primus has been strained this year.

"It's been really tough for both of us," Cornes told Triple M radio.

"We're great mates off the field when we were playing. I sat down with Matty this pre-season and he made it pretty clear that it was going to be a tough year for me and really hard to get a game. There's no doubt it's been frustrating for me."

Port Adelaide has appointed caretaker coach Matthew Primus to a three-year contract.

"Matt is an outstanding young man. Importantly, he is his own man and he's a leader of men," Port Adelaide president Brett Duncanson said.

"Matt has an outstanding Port Adelaide heritage, but that was not in any way the deciding factor in his selection. He is, we believe and know, a diamond in our own backyard."

Port Adelaide caretaker coach Matthew Primus strengthens his case for the top job at the Power with 5 wins from 7 outings.

"We set ourselves a goal with seven weeks to go," Primus said.

"We wanted to win all our home games and we wanted to see if we could get a couple on the road. It's a credit to the players, because it's very easy with seven weeks to go to not get too much out of the season.

Port Adelaide president Brett Duncanson says people power will play a role when it comes to selecting the club's next coach, including former captain and caretaker coach Matthew Primus.

"Any Port Adelaide leader and in Matty's case an outstanding on-field leader is going to be popular and that will be a factor in everything we do when it comes to the appointment of senior coaches," Duncanson said.

"We'll look at what it actually does to our long-term commercial viability and Matty ticks all those boxes, but it's about sticking to the process."

After a 94-point thrashing at the hands of St Kilda, Port Adelaide ruckman Dean Brogan says the players want to finish the season strongly to make sure caretaker coach Matthew Primus is appointed as coach for season 2011.

"We want to finish off well for the club and for our supporters, but we really want Matty to stay around and we need to show the club and the board members that we want to play under him," Brogan said.

After two wins on the trot against Adelaide and Hawthorn, Port Adelaide caretaker coach Matthew Primus says wins will help his bid to take on the role permanently, but that there is much more to the process.

"The wins and losses that I have over the next month will be a little bit of it, but the process of what kind of person you are will stand for a lot more," Primus said.

"I'm learning all the time. I'm learning about preparation and learning about game day. The moment you start to relax and feel more confident something will come and bite you on the backside, so we'll keep knuckling down and see if we can get another win next week."

Matthew Primus says he wants the Port Adelaide head coching job after being appointed as caretaker coach of the Power.

"It's just too good an opportunity to knock back," Primus said.

"Whatever is going to happen in the future will happen, but obviously I can show what I'm about.

"Maybe it can go against you too, but you never know if you don't have a crack at it."

Port Adelaide has announced that Matthew Primus will take over as caretaker coach of the club following the termination of Mark Williams' contract.

Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams says he will take more responsibility for the midfield coaching in Matthew Primus' absence after Primus was banned by the AFL for two matches following a $20 wager placed on the NAB Cup semi-final .

"Matthew plays a major role during match day and him not being there makes it more difficult," Williams said.

"We have some other people that are generally working in that area that will assist in filling that role and we'll get through.

"Dean will be stepping up a little bit more and we also have our video analyst in the box, who works very closely with Matty. He's been in all our meetings for the whole year, so he knows what's going on."

Port Adelaide assistant coach Matthew Primus admits he did the wrong thing by betting on a NAB Cup match 14 months ago.

"I take full responsibility for the placing of the bet," Primus said.

"It was not my intention to bet on an AFL game but I am well aware of the AFL rules and will accept any sanction imposed."

Power assistant coach Matthew Primus has re-signed with the club for two more years.

"It is really a changing of the guard at Port Adelaide," Primus said.

"It is often overlooked that we have turned over our list more than any other club in the past three years."

"We are developing our next generation. It will take patience, there is plenty of work to do, and there will be frustrations along the way, but we know we are on the right track."

Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams dismisses reports that he has yet to sign his new contract.

Assistant coaches Matthew Primus and Jason Cripps have both been offered extensions on their current contracts but are yet to sign.

"I've signed [my contract and] they've both been offered contract extensions," Williams said. "I hope they'll be here [next year]."