PORT Adelaide coach Mark Williams has confirmed he still harbors ambitions to coach in Victoria but, given the immediate choice, would prefer a new contract offer from Port Adelaide.

The 2004 premiership coach is signed with Power until the end of 2009 and admitted he found the club's tendency to leave negotiations until his final contracted year a source of frustration.

Williams also confirmed he received at least one significant offer to coach in Melbourne last season, believed to be Essendon, but refuted reports the Port Adelaide board had sought to re-sign him early this season and now placed those negotiations on hold.

"Coaching Port Adelaide is what I'm doing (but) I don't dismiss it's been an ambition of mine to come back to Victoria and coach," said Williams on the eve of tonight's round-20 clash with Collingwood. "And I certainly have some affiliation with some of the big clubs in Victoria."

Williams admitted his club had undergone a major philosophical shift regarding season 2008 following its narrow loss to Richmond back in June.

"After Richmond we took the long-term view that we would play for our future," he said.

"We could have scraped into the eight, but instead we've tried a lot of new things with our training, we've tried a lot of younger players, we've changed our rotations and our training days, but we have tried to win every game."

Admitting that this season's dramatic fall could have come about due to the psychological hangover from the 2007 grand final, Williams, however, described as "rubbish" reports that his club, on the verge of appointing a new president and chief executive, had stalled his contract negotiations.

Williams' contract stipulates his club must initiate talks regarding a new deal by June next year. He moves out of contract at the end of 2009. "Never once had the club ever done it prior to the required date," said Williams.

"They didn't do it when we won the premiership and they didn't do it after we finished at the top of the ladder three years in a row, so I don't expect them to do it now. Security is always nice but that's the way it is.

"My preference is to face the challenges that lie ahead at Port Adelaide and, to be fair to them, it's been a great relationship, but who knows what will happen at the end of next year.

"My Dad was a coach 50 years ago and I've been involved in football ever since; I'm battle-hardened against any outcome."

Confirming he had been approached to come to Melbourne at the end of last season, Williams said: "There were big offers but that's all about timing, it's always about timing and when contracts are up, and if you have a crystal ball maybe you can tell me where it will end up."

Williams, who turns 50 next week, will celebrate the milestone tomorrow night with a party in Adelaide at which former Collingwood teammates, including James Manson, Shane Morwood and John Annear, will attend, along with most of the Port Adelaide senior players.

Describing 2007 as the second-greatest of his coaching career and for Port Adelaide, Williams admitted it had been tough being at the centre of relentless media scrutiny, but said he had been hardened after coaching the Dream Team against the Victorian side in May, when a number of players assigned to him called after the experience to tell Williams they were coming out of contract and suggested they would like to play under him again.