North Melbourne will err on the side of caution with star midfielder Daniel Wells in their AFL clash with Port Adelaide on Saturday night, hoping less game time will provide more reward.

Wells has overcome hip and groin issues in better-than-expected time, training strongly this week to elevate himself into North's line-up for the match at Etihad Stadium.

But coach Dean Laidley admitted Wells would be eased back into the side's midfield rotation and would not be asked to play as many minutes as normal.

"Daniel was a bit of a surprise. He's ready to go ... but we're mindful that he's been out for three weeks," Laidley said on Friday.

"He won't be able to play his full quota of time but we think he'll value-add to our side."

Small forward Matt Campbell also wins a recall, while Todd Goldstein provides another tall option in a return to the North side.

Port coach Mark Williams he was expecting North to "play tall in their forward line", and was wary the Kangaroos could be revitalised with the changes made.

North have been disappointing in their past two defeats, while Port are coming off a storming win in their Showdown against Adelaide.

"Obviously with Wells and Campbell back in it's terrific for them," Williams said.

"People can compare sides and they say `well they played like that last week'.

"This week they could play completely different.

"We're prepared for North at their absolute best."

Laidley said he would encourage his young players as they continued their football education, hoping they would learn to put together consistent four-quarter performances.

"With our young team we've just been really focusing on getting some things right which have probably let us down over the last couple of weeks," he said.

"It's about continuing to educate those guys.

"There's probably 10 to 12 minutes where the opposition have kicked a couple of goals and got away on us. The rest has been pretty even.

"We just need to make sure we continue to teach them."

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