Port Adelaide coach Josh Carr isn't chasing revenge.

But he's still dirty on North Melbourne for ruining his debut as an AFL head coach.

Carr's round-one loss left a bitter taste: a 46-point belting from the Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium.

"Round one, we had probably one of our most disappointing games," he said.

Did he and Port "owe" the Kangaroos one?

"I don't think you ever really owe a team one, it's one that you can't get back," Carr said.

"What we do know, round one throws up a lot of challenges ... that is a long time ago now and a lot has changed since then."

The Power (five wins, 10 losses) are 15th ahead of hosting Alastair Clarkson's Kangaroos on Sunday at Adelaide Oval.

The Roos (eight wins, seven losses) entered the round in ninth spot with Carr certain both clubs have come a long way since their season-opener.

"I'd like to think our game has evolved as well as theirs has," he said.

"The whole competition respects North Melbourne a lot more than probably at the start of the year, they have had some really good games.

"They have won three in a row now, so we have got a challenge."

Carr banked his best win as Power coach last weekend, a 26-point upset of arch-foe Adelaide.

But he said unless his players brought the same intensity, they'd be in strife against the Roos.

"The contest to start off with - and that is where we got beaten up at the start of the year - broken tackles. We didn't get that part of our game right," he said of the round-one result.

"Any game, if you can get your contest right then that gives you a really good chance.

"And they have got some really good players that have been around for a while now, they're pretty rock solid all over the ground."

North have never won at Adelaide Oval, carrying a 14-game losing streak into the venue.

The away fixture is the start of a challenging back-end for the Kangaroos, who have't played finals since 2016.

The Roos meet Collingwood, Melbourne, St Kilda, Hawthorn, the Western Bulldogs, Geelong and Sydney in the run to the finals.