LAST week's stirring four-point victory over St Kilda means nothing to Port Adelaide coach Matthew Primus, who says the Power must fight their way to a win against Essendon on Saturday.

The Power overcame a determined Saints outfit last Sunday and Primus said his side had to continue their desperate, contested style of play against the Bombers.

"Our competitiveness, our contested stuff has got to be good and we've got to try and do that for every minute of every game," he said.

"What we did last week means nothing.

"As much as the win was great, we got over it pretty quickly and we've got to make sure, as a football club, we're prepared to play that same intensity on the road, away from our home fans, away from round one and that's our greatest challenge."

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Despite Port's impressive start to the season, Primus said the club was still in the process of winning back respect after a shocking 2011 and would remain doing so all year.

"I think the whole year will be about that," he said.

"But it's about earning respect amongst each other and as a footy club and then that will flow on to the rest of the football community."

Games between Port Adelaide and Essendon have traditionally turned into high scoring affairs, with the winner of the past six encounters kicking more than 100 points.

But without forwards John Butcher or Robbie Gray in the line-up because of hamstring injuries, Primus said the Power would not benefit from such a game on Saturday.

"We understand Essendon play a pretty fast brand of football and we want to move the ball pretty quickly too, but we certainly don't want to get into a shootout with them," he said.

"We want to play a contested style of footy, similar to last week."

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Like the Power, Essendon also enjoyed a nail-biting win in round one, with North Melbourne player Hamish McIntosh missing a goal after the siren that would have won his side the game.

The Bombers are widely touted to see finals action in 2012 and Primus said he understood the test of facing a team further on in its development than the Power.

"It was a challenge playing at home, but we stepped up to the plate and were able to deliver but we've got a bigger challenge playing away from home, playing a team that's rising and wanting to be a force in the AFL," he said.

"We're focused on making sure our players are fully aware that we need to get better again than we were against St Kilda."

Harry Thring covers Port Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: AFL_Harry.

John Butcher is a $243,400 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team. Register your team here.