Ken Hinkley speaks ahead of Port Adelaide’s round 1 match against Collingwood

Nick Daicos doesn’t often play two bad games in a row. And that reality has Ken Hinkley on edge as he plots how to stop the Brownlow Medal favourite.

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley has tipped a stern response from Collingwood and Brownlow Medal favourite Nick Daicos after a heavy Opening Round defeat to GWS.

The Magpies’ fitness and desire has been questioned in the wake of their 52-point loss against the Giants on Sunday, with their lack of speed coming in for fierce criticism.

With the Power’s forward line now smaller and quicker than previous years, it could be an area Port tries to expose and a real chance for Hinkley’s side to open its season with a win over the Magpies at the MCG.

But Hinkley said he was wary of a Collingwood response.

“We overact on one game, I think Collingwood will be full of energy on Saturday night at the G, they are in front of their fans and they have some celebrations of their own,” he said.

“The last thing I will be doing is pigeonholing Collingwood outside of that they are a bloody good team.”

Magpies star Daicos was tagged by Toby Bedford and struggled with cramp in the second half on Sunday, finishing with 21 disposals.

Willem Drew looms as the likely tagger for the Power.

Hinkley said the Power would work on how to quell Daicos, who has a formidable record against Port.

Daicos has averaged 27 disposals, five clearances and eight score involvements against the Power.

“We will have to work our way through that, we know he is a great player, he is a star of the comp, we’ve been told that plenty of times and we have seen it,” he said.

“We look forward to the challenge.”

Stopping Nick Daicos will be a huge task for Port Adelaide. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The Power will also face the challenge of taking on former leadership group member Houston in his first game for the Magpies after his off-season move.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has said he will give Houston a licence to thrill off halfback.

Hinkley said Port was unlikely to run a defensive forward on its former All-Australian to curtail his influence.

“I don’t know whether looking forward to it is the right word, he has been one of our favourite players for a while but now he is a Collingwood player,” he said.

“We move on as Joey Richards is a Port Adelaide player.

“We just don’t want Dan to have a great day, we will do our best.

Dan Houston will face his old side for the first time in round 1.

“No it won’t be different, we treat them all the same. Dan knows how we respect our past players and we also know that we have to move on.

“It will be interesting to see who Dan goes to, the defender usually chooses where he goes more often than not.”

Esava Ratugolea will play for Port’s SANFL side this weekend, while Hinkley said he was excited to see how the Power’s new-look forward line in the wake of Charlie Dixon’s retirement would fare.

“It probably may be a little bit clunky at different times, particularly early but we are still learning our way through that and educating ourselves on that,” he said.

“So it will be interesting to see how it works, it will certainly be slightly different, Charlie was a unique person and a great player for our football club but we look forward for what the new look is like and we will find that out in a pressure situation on Saturday night.”