The Kangaroos notched their first win of the season last weekend with a fighting 29-point victory over the Western Bulldogs, while the Power continued an unbeaten start to 2014 with their triumph over Adelaide.
But Port's eight-win, 20-loss record against North is far less impressive.
Their 20th loss to the Kangaroos was their first of the season last year, ending a five-game winning streak.
Port coach Ken Hinkley dismissed the importance of his side's poor record but cautioned his players that only their best would be good enough against a quality team.
"Everyone spoke about North Melbourne in the pre-season as being a really quality side and we expect them to certainly go up the ladder from where they were last year," he said.
"We know their best is devastating - we've just got to try and restrict how much they can get into that mode.
"It'll be just a matter of trying to win the battle of getting the game played on the terms we want to play on.
"If we're prepared to stick to our work rate and put in what we need to, hopefully by the end of the games we're going to be able to come out on top."
Key to assuming midfield supremacy on Sunday will be the ruck duel, primarily between North's Todd Goldstein and the Power's Matthew Lobbe.
Port lost the clearances 32-35 against the Crows, but Hinkley said he had no concern about the side's ability to handle Goldstein.
"We're pretty happy with the way our ruck system's been working at the moment," he said.
"We have that flexibility with 'Jacko' (Jackson Trengove) and 'Westy' (Justin Westhoff) as well who can go into the ruck for us and help us.
"Goldstein's a big-minutes ruckman himself and 'Lobbes' is a big-minutes ruckman for us, so I think we'll be OK in that area."
Twitter: @AFL_Harry
