North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley will urge his players to focus on the simple things rather than the significance of their AFL finals-shaping clash against St Kilda at the Gold Coast on Saturday night.

Bound for a venue not short on sand, Laidley did his best to bury his head in it when discussing the importance of the match - downplaying it as much as possible publicly.

But with the Kangaroos eighth and St Kilda ninth, 10th and 11th placed Carlton and Richmond also playing this weekend, and the top seven clubs looking reasonably solid, a lot would appear to be riding on the result.

Yet Laidley was keen to impress upon his players that if they focus too heavily on how much a win means in the context of their season, they risk defeat.

"If we worry about winning or losing and don't worry about doing what we're supposed to do, then we can get our pants pulled down," Laidley said.

"We need to make sure we know, we prepare and understand what we need to do to be able to achieve the win.

"That's the result we're after.

"But if we look directly at the result and forget what we need to do, we can find ourselves probably in a not-too-good situation."

Laidley believes winning the ball will be paramount against a Saints team becoming the AFL's kings of ugly football.

But North's impressive victory over high-flying Hawthorn last weekend has raised hopes the Kangaroos will be able to combat any negative tactics the Saints throw at them.

"They tend to play that way, they press up the ground a fair bit," Laidley said of St Kilda.

"So we have to make sure we win our fair share of the footy and put the pressure on them."

Much interest will centre on the size of the crowd for the Kangaroos' second of three matches in a region they were asked to move to last year but turned their backs on.

After drawing a disappointing 6,000 to their first Carrara match of 2008, North will also have to contend with the Gold Coast Titans' NRL match against St George Illawarra kicking off two hours earlier at nearby Robina.

"Our game this weekend is the only game in Queensland. If people want to go and see football, that's a real positive for the state and for the game," Laidley said.

"It's great we're playing up there, and we'll get up there and do our best."

Up to six Queensland products could be involved in the match - spearheaded by Gold Coasters Nick Riewoldt and Sam Gilbert (St Kilda) and North's David Hale.

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