Port Adelaide midfielder Steve Salopek says his AFL club must close the gap between its best and worst performances.

The Power's best had them beating AFL premiers Hawthorn at the MCG and crushing Adelaide in the showdown but there is a growing determination to close the chasm between their sublime best and ridiculous worst.

"We need to bridge that gap between our good games and our bad games, when we play poorly or don't play that great we just really need to get back to basics and find a balance between good stuff and bad stuff and not let games get blown out," he said.

"If I knew how to answer it I'd say it."

The Power follow their triumph over the Crows by facing North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

"You probably don't really notice it (if the team has the right attitude) until you're out on the park, the preparation is the same every week and the coaches do a terrific job of organising everything," Salopek said.

"(But) sometimes things don't go right in games and you just need to persevere and just stick with it."

The Kangaroos have sworn vengeance on the Power after their round 22 match last year, when a Port side with nothing to play for but pride proceeded to thump a North Melbourne line-up playing for a spot in the league's top four.

"I didn't play in that game, I had a broken heel and was watching it, and i sat there going `why didn't we do that for the rest of the year?'" Salopek said.

"That last game for our mentality made us realise we were on the right track, played a lot of young players and they played very, very well so it was good to see the future of the club on show there."

There are still question marks over Port's side for this weekend with Hamish Hartlett training only lightly on Wednesday after being cleared of hamstring trouble while Josh Carr was not present at all due to management of a hip problem.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP