Collingwood have news for those who think the AFL premiers are finished raising the bar - keep your eyes skywards.

Magpies defender Heath Shaw says there's room for improvement after their 75-point shellacking of Port Adelaide to open the season.

While the rest of the competition saw Collingwood's round one win as perhaps a wake-up call, so did the Magpies.

A mid-match lapse in which Port kicked a swag of goals has challenged the Magpies to do better on Saturday against North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.

"In patches we were good, in patches we were a bit disappointing," Shaw said.

"When a team kicks six goals in a row on you you're obviously doing something wrong or they're doing something right.

"It's round one, and we want to tweak our game as much as we can to get that consistency over the four quarters.

"It's the first full game hitout with the new rules, and I think we're going to learn from that."

North Melbourne face the difficult task of a six-day back-up after losing their season opener to West Coast in Perth.

But they add much needed height in the ruck, forwards and backline.

Drew Petrie returns from suspension, Todd Goldstein is back from illness and key defender Nathan Grima from pre-season injury.

Collingwood have named an unchanged line-up, with Leon Davis unable to break back in after being a late withdrawal last week because of illness.

The Pies will again be without skipper Nick Maxwell, who is on track for a possible return next week from the internal injuries he picked up pre-season.

"(Maxwell) looks like he's getting closer to playing, it's just a matter of conditioning now and hopefully he'll be available for next week," Shaw said.

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