Port Adelaide assistant coach Adam Kingsley says his team has enough motivation to stage an upset against North Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday.
Last year's grand finalists have been out of finals contention for months and at best a Round 22 victory will maintain their 13th position on the ladder. In contrast, they tackle a Kangaroos' line-up with a Shannon Grant milestone and a top-four position to think about.
However Kingsley is optimistic the players will muster some enthusiasm for their last hit-out of the year.
"Guys fighting for their careers, guys trying to finish on a high, players really want to win this game, we are back at the MCG for the first time this year, we want to play well in front of the supporters and the people that will be at the ground," he said.
"Players will hopefully perform or cement their spot or give the coaches something to talk about."
"(It gives us a) Bit of pride, bit of confidence going into pre-season. If we can win our last two games of the year it gives our players something that says we do have a good team and that we are pretty confident in our abilities to play."
Port went close to beating North back in Round 15 and is confident it can cause some problems this time around.
Kingsley said the coaching panel had 'studied them fairly extensively' and had plans in place to counter their methodical approach.
"Obviously they've got a lot of bigger guys, we are going to have to play pretty physical, we will have to match them in that area," he said.
"They play a little bit different game style compared to the rest of the competition. They are happy to play wide, they do kick the ball long to their tall targets, that's something that you can take out of their game style."
"We've performed pretty well against North Melbourne the last five times we've played them and their game style is very similar."
Kingsley said the versatility of Drew Petrie, David Hale and Hamish McIntosh was a strength as was their work around the packs.
"They are very smart stoppage team. Adam Simpson is their captain, he drives a lot of their stoppage work and he's super smart, they've got a lot of tricks in their bag," he said.
"To beat them you've got to be on them and be aware of what they are trying to do."