COACH Matthew Primus admits Showdown XXXI has come at a perfect time for Port Adelaide, but says his players must learn to reproduce their competitive efforts in grudge matches against Adelaide in their clashes with the other 15 teams in the competition.

The Power have only won nine of their past 33 games and a third of those have been against the Crows, prompting criticism the club saves its best performances for Showdowns.

Primus acknowledged it was important the Power - who have lost their past six games and are in danger of recording their worst-ever season - put on a good display on Sunday, but said the challenge would be to repeat it against reigning premier Collingwood the next week.

"We've got to treat this as a normal game," Primus said on Friday.

"Yes, there's a bigger build-up in the town … but we've got to get away from building ourselves up [only] for Showdowns.

"It's come at an opportune time. We're at the bottom of the ladder and they've had a change of coach, but in the end, it's got to be just another game for us."

Justin Westhoff, who has missed the past three weeks with a toe injury, completed training on Friday morning and Primus said the tall forward would take his place in the team to play Adelaide.

Skipper Dom Cassisi's wife is yet to give birth to the couple's first child, but Primus said he expected the tough midfielder to line up on Sunday.

"It's been the longest birth in history, but it's all good so far and he'll be right to go Sunday at the moment," he said.

The twilight clash at AAMI Stadium will be Adelaide caretaker coach Mark Bickley's first in charge since taking over from Neil Craig, who announced his resignation on Monday.

Primus and Bickley were fierce Showdown rivals during their playing days, with the Port Adelaide faithful still holding a grudge against Bickley for breaking Power defender Darryl Wakelin's jaw in an off-the-ball incident in 2002.

Primus started his coaching career in similar fashion to Bickley, replacing premiership coach Mark Williams after round 15 last season.

Asked if he had any advice for Bickley in the lead-up to his first outing as coach, a jovial Primus responded, "don't win your first game, just like I didn't."

Bickley has vowed to make changes to the Crows' team, but Primus said the Power would be prepared for anything the novice coach threw at them.

"I think tactics and throwing things around is a bit of a myth in footy," he said.

"In the end, your structures are what hold up. It doesn't really matter the names you put down there, it's the amount of ball you can win and pressure you put on the opposition.

"We expect a few different things from them, but we'll be prepared for whatever it is and if we're winning our fair share of the ball it won't matter too much.

"It's a big news story what's happened in Adelaide … but we've got to make sure we get ourselves prepared and give the club, our supporters and sponsors something to smile about."

Katrina Gill covers Port Adelaide news for afl.com.au. Follow her on Twitter: @AFL_KatrinaGill