Melbourne midfielders can expect a physical battering as Port Adelaide seek some joy in their dismal AFL season, Power coach Matthew Primus says.

A week after six Port players were fined more than $8000 for wrestling opponents, Primus pledged to target the Demons' onball brigade headed by Brent Moloney in Darwin on Saturday night.

Primus was bemused by reaction to Port's spiteful clash with St Kilda last Sunday, saying he always instructed his players to be as physical as possible.

"It's an instruction every time they go out there," Primus said.

"We targeted players but they (St Kilda) targeted (Travis) Boak and (Danyle) Pearce.

"And we were trying to target (Nick) Dal Santo and (Nick) Riewoldt because they're important players by stopping them getting the ball - not by giving them frees to give them the ball.

"We will be as physical as we can be, play within the rules, and hopefully don't give them some easy goals."

Primus identified midfielders Moloney, Tom Scully and Jack Trengove as key players to stop in the Darwin fixture, which is a nominal Melbourne home game.

The 10th-placed Demons, just one victory outside of the top eight, recalled Jamie Bennell and Sam Blease for the encounter against the struggling Power.

Port dumped utility Matthew Broadbent and tall Daniel Stewart, summoning mobile defenders Michael Pettigrew and Steven Salopek as their replacements.

Primus was mindful of surviving in Darwin's heat and humidity as they seek just their third win of the season.

"Like every team, you want to try and move the ball quickly and last week we got caught out not doing that," he said of a stuttering loss to the Saints last start.

"... But we have been pretty happy with the way we have been tracking the last month apart from last week, the way we move the ball.

"In Darwin you really can't afford to play around with it too much because of the conditions.

"It's a great place to go up there at this time of the year, but it's a pretty demanding place to play footy."

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