Over the 2011 off-season, Port Adelaide picked up a trio of players formerly from opposition AFL clubs to give its midfield a kick start.

The Power obtained Brent Renouf from Hawthorn and Brad Ebert from West Coast in trade week, before selecting former Collingwood player John McCarthy in the pre-season draft.

Renouf has taken the mantle of number one ruckman at Port, while Ebert is enjoying a break-out season. McCarthy is also proving to be a handy acquisition, averaging more than 22 disposals a game.

The former Hawk has over 70 hit-outs in his four games in 2012, giving the new-look Power midfield first use of the ball on many occasions.

During Ebert's time at West Coast he developed slowly but began to show signs of the player he could become in 2011, playing 22 games. Then, for essentially pick 28 (The Eagles also traded pick 45 and received 49 in return) in the 2011 National Draft, the Power picked up one of their most influential players this year.

Ebert is consistent across all facets of the game, with barely a weakness to speak of. Barring Kane Cornes, he spends more time on the ground than any other midfielder in the team - a clear sign of the faith the coaching staff has in him.

To draw a parallel between the upcoming match and last week against the Bulldogs, Ebert is a similar player to Matthew Boyd. Last week kangaroos.com.au explained the consistency of Boyd through his statistics, and Ebert is much the same.

In only one outing this season has Ebert collected less than 19 disposals and considering Boyd lit the Kangaroos up from siren to siren on Sunday, keeping him quiet could be pivotal to the Kangaroos’ chances.

McCarthy has also proved a ball magnet in his seven games for the Power. His 157 disposals sits him third at the club and he ranks fourth for clearances.

Most importantly, the work of these two players frees up the captain, Domenic Cassisi, and Travis Boak to play their natural games. Both Cassisi and Boak were asked to carry too much of the load last season. While that was by necessity rather than design, it affected their output.

Cassisi in particular has been able to focus on his two greatest assets; contested possessions and tackling. He ranks equal fourth in the competition for tackles at an average of 6.7 per game - a clear sign of his importance to the Power defensively.

The captain is also one full contested possession per game ahead of the second-ranked player at Port (David Rodan), with 10.6 per game. Only two players at North are in double figures for average contested possessions (Andrew Swallow and Jack Ziebell), meaning Cassisi is clearly in good company.

Boak has also increased his ball-winning output from last year with a stronger midfield around him. With the captain taking care of finding the ball in tight, Boak has found more time to get the footy. His average disposals in 2012 is 23.1.

While such a boost may seem small on paper, in reality Boak does not need much of the ball to hurt the opposition. He must be a big area of focus for the North Melbourne coaching staff.

Despite Port Adelaide's poor record so far this season, if its midfield fires it has every possibility of challenging the Kangaroos.