PORT ADELAIDE coach Mark Williams admits choosing the line-up for his side’s round-one clash with Essendon at AAMI Stadium won’t be easy – especially if the youngsters who impressed in Saturday’s NAB Challenge game do it again next week.

The Power looked superior to North Melbourne throughout their clash at Visy Park, disposing of the Kangaroos 17.14 (116) to 11.13 (79).

Williams’ team led from start to finish, his midfielders leading the way in a dominant display.

While the colourful coach wasn’t getting carried away by his side’s performance – citing the fact the opposition was resting stars and also limited the match time of a few big names – he said Port Adelaide was determined to rid itself of the memories of a horror 2008.

“We’re pretty keen on trying to recover some of our credibility that we lost last year,” Williams said after the match.

Port Adelaide, which last week was choked against Geelong and laboured its way to a score of 8.6 (54), moved the ball efficiently during the game and, had it not been for inaccuracy in front of goal, could have kicked a far larger score.

But the 50-year-old coach, in his 11th season at the club, was pleased enough with what he saw.

“We went inside fifty 60 times so it was a pretty good effort and in the end we kicked a lot of goals, so that was pretty good,” he said.

While the Power was eager to move on from its loss to Geelong a week earlier, it was a former Cat who helped them to do just that.

Jason Davenport, with 30 touches, led the possession count for Port Adelaide from a wing, while Nathan Krakouer (27) was prominent from defence.

Shaun Burgoyne, in his first game back, had 26 possessions and a goal while Marlon Motlop was one of three Power players to touch the footy 25 times as their team racked up 430 disposals.

“It’s going to be a tough decision as to who we play in a couple of weeks time because obviously Dom Cassisi will come back into the group and Matt Thomas is out but is probably in the mix,” Williams said.

“Alipate Carlile will be coming back … Warren Tredrea probably will be coming back next week as well, so it’s going to be a tough selection.”

Travis Boak, Hamish Hartlett and Tom Logan were others to miss Saturday’s win.

Neither team seemed intent to play a defensive, zoning-style of game that seems so in-vogue in 2009 but Williams said, should that be the trend this season, his side would be ready.

“We’re fairly aware of what might be coming so we’ve been practicing for a long, long time,” he said.

“Last week we were fairly disappointed about how we played against Geelong but obviously they’re a very good team.

“North rested a lot of players today, so let’s be fair there, but we seemed to manage pretty well.

“I think in the second quarter we just missed a lot of goals … eventually we kind of broke free and kicked some goals at the end of our good work.”

Dream Team watch – Port Adelaide’s Jason Davenport is rated an $86,600 midfielder in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.