The influence of the coherent structures on grid/subgrid-scale (GS/SGS) interactions in free shear layers is analysed through the application of a top-hat filter to several plane jet direct numerical simulations (DNS). The Reynolds number based on the plane jet inlet slot width is Reh = 3000. The study deals with energy containing (Kelvin–Helmholtz) and inertial range (streamwise) vortices, from the far field of the turbulent plane jet. The most intense kinetic energy exchanges between GS and SGS occur near these structures and not randomly in the space. The GS kinetic energy is dominated by GS advection and GS pressure/velocity interactions which appear located next to the Kelvin–Helmholtz rollers. Surprisingly, GS/SGS transfer is not very well correlated with the coherent vortices and GS/SGS diffusion plays an important role in the local dynamics of both GS and SGS kinetic energy. The so-called ‘local equilibrium assumption’ holds globally but not locally as most viscous dissipation of SGS kinetic energy takes place within the vortex cores whereas forward and backward GS/SGS transfer occurs at quite different locations. Finally, it was shown that SGS kinetic energy advection may be locally large as compared to the other terms of the SGS kinetic energy transport equation.