The Power have managed only four wins this season, including just one in the past five weeks, but are expected to start at comparable odds with the Kangaroos for Saturday night’s clash at AAMI Stadium.
North Melbourne, who has suspended veteran Shannon Grant and omitted forward Corey Jones, must win to keep its finals hopes alive and Kingsley said last year’s embarrassing preliminary final loss to Port Adelaide would serve as added motivation for the visitors.
“Obviously, North will respond. No one likes to have their futures questioned or have it put on them when they’re not performing to the level they are supposed to or want to, so I’d expect they’d come out hard and tough, as they always do against their opposition,” Kingsley said.
“They are a very physical team and have been that way for the last ten years. They have had a reasonable record against us too, so we’re expecting a very tough game.
“If you think back to the preliminary final last year, I think that will probably still be in their minds, so that’s a little bit of motivation for them to come out as hard as they can. We’re expecting that, but hopefully we can match them in that area.”
Port Adelaide is expected to go into Saturday’s game unchanged, despite ruckman Dean Brogan expressing some discomfort at Friday’s training session.
Chad Cornes will return to bolster the Power side, having opted not to go under the knife for separate knee and shoulder injuries.
“Chad’s not 100 per cent, but not many are at this time of the year,” Kingsley said.
“We’re expecting Chad to play his role in the team wherever he is and we’ve delayed him having an operation because we want to win.”
The Power, who are expected to make some minor changes to their game plan this week, have also put the acid on their unsigned players, but Kingsley said anyone deemed to be playing for themselves and not the team would be dropped.
“I think our group is pretty united. I’m not sure that [individuals playing for themselves] will happen,” he said.
“We’re obviously pushing team, team, team and we expect guys to play their role in the team and if they don’t, they’ll come under scrutiny as to whether or not they are playing.”
