In this week's Game Plan, Stuart Dew, talks about the strong midfield performance against Port Adelaide last weekend and the prospect of facing North Melbourne's red-hot young midfield brigade...

We were really pleased with our stoppage and clearance efforts against Port Adelaide last weekend.

We were happy with our performance because the Power had been in good form, and were well up on their clearance differentials against their opponents so far this season.

I thought three of our midfielders really stood out in our 22-point win over the Power. Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker and Dan Hannebery were all really good in tight and were nice and clean with the ball, which really helped our performance.

It was great to see Hannebery getting back to his best against the Power. He had a little bit of a niggle pre-season, so we had to really work hard to get him back to game fitness. We gave him a run in the twos when the seniors had a week off just to get some touch, and I think that really helped him out.

He’s now not having to manage his game time or work load and he’s now just another important player out there and is one of the hardest running players in our team.

Shane Mumford’s return to the team was also impressive. Although Port Adelaide did have an inexperienced ruckman in Jarrad Redden, he’s been in great form, so for Mummy to come back into the team and deliver our mids so much of the ball was a fantastic contribution.

Jesse White’s contribution in the ruck and up forward was also worth mentioning. He did what we asked of him and probably played between 20 to 30 per cent in the ruck, so he had a good game.

Also, when he went up forward he was able to kick a couple of goals so we were really happy with his performance, given he had played a few games in the reserves and missed a game early on.

Our focus has now turned to North Melbourne, who were really good last weekend against Geelong. They have been playing great footy and are probably unlucky not to have three wins on the board. Obviously they’ve got some players who can win a lot of the ball, but also their midfielders have been kicking goals, which is one thing we will need to keep in check this weekend.

North’s midfield is actually quite similar to ours in that they’ve got some really talented young players coming through. I think our group is really looking forward to the challenge of coming up against similar type players this weekend.

The ruck will be an area we need to focus on this week, with North Melbourne boasting the enviable combination of Todd Goldstein and Hamish McIntosh. Both of those players could be a number one ruck player at any other club, so we’ve got to be wary of both players whether they are in the ruck or up forward. Even when McIntosh is on the ball he’s really dangerous, and did pretty well against us in our NAB Cup clash. North Melbourne have a lot of flexibility in that department, so we need to make sure we can match them.

We’re predicting it’s going to be a pretty hard and tough battle, and we know that if we’re not willing to compete then the Kangaroos will make us pay, whether it’s by the number of possessions or goals scored.

We think our guys are up for the challenge. They showed they could win against a tough midfield last week and are looking forward to another challenge this Sunday.