PORT ADELAIDE defender Dan Houston is not scared to look ahead of the "one week at a time" mantra in sport. West Coast in Perth on Easter Saturday, followed by AFL premier Richmond at Adelaide Oval in a Friday night blockbuster.

"There will be a lot of pressure to perform across the next two weeks," Houston said at Alberton before Port Adelaide continued its preparations for one of the toughest road trips in Australian football.

"West Coast and a six-day break against Richmond ... we are going to be tested in the next two weeks, in consistency and backing up on short breaks with travel.

"It will be two massive weeks ... and we will be focusing first and foremost on West Coast this week."

Externally, the football pundits will get a more meaningful barometer on where the league-leading Port Adelaide stands after hefty wins against last season's wooden spooner Adelaide in two pre-season matches and against 2019 non-finalists North Melbourne and Essendon in the opening two rounds of the AFL home-and-away season.

It also will be just as revealing internally to the Port Adelaide players and coaches. 

"We will find out what we are doing well and what we need to work on," said Houston, the No.45 pick in the 2016 AFL rookie draft.

"(Two premiership-season games) is a small sample size. We will get more of an indication this week as to what we have to work on, but we need to consistently back it up ..."

Port Adelaide has a 20-15 win-loss record against West Coast with a 1-1 count at the new Perth Stadium.

"It is daunting playing anyone at their home ground, especially West Coast (in Perth)," Houston said.

"We have gone over with different tactics each year on how to beat them," added the 23-year-old defender with Port Adelaide's last test in Perth against West Coast on Good Friday 2019 ending with a 42-point win off the "dirty ball" tactics that limited the rebound of the West Coast defence.

"It will be no different this year. Take the ball off them and play our brand of footy in offence."

But how will Port Adelaide line up with coach Ken Hinkley and his match committee able to recall forward-midfielder Connor Rozee (foot surgery) and key forward Todd Marshall (back) after his spot was ably taken by Mitch Georgiades with a four-goal haul against Essendon on Saturday?

"The conversation has been, 'Can we play four talls?'," Houston said of the potential combination of Charlie Dixon, Marshall, Georgiades and either of resting ruckmen Scott Lycett and Peter Ladhams.

"When you pick four talls or pick many talls, you are worried about the speed on the ground and the pressure (applied by forwards to frustrate defenders on the rebound). Both Todd and Mitch can apply that, so there will be plenty of confidence if we play four talls ... they will be able to do that.

"It will be a tough match committee conversation, but either way we will be playing our most inform 22 every week. So we know what we are going to get.

"We're very confident Rozee will be right."

Houston, a 79-game AFL player, is content to stay in the match committee's plans for defence despite proving himself more than capable as a midfielder after his first run in the engine room in Shanghai in 2019.

And there is now the title of "best kick to inside 50" to consider when judging Houston as a midfielder rather than polished defender.

"It is a nice thing to hear being said about yourself," Houston said of the growing national admiration of his kicking skills.

"In the AFL, there are a lot of good kicks going around. So, to have my name in that conversation is nice to hear."

Recent AFL rule changes also have allowed Houston to emphasise the power of his accurate kick in new open space.

"In training in the past three months we have been able to practice the man-on-the-mark rule and get some ball moving forward and access different parts of the ground," Houston said. "I feel that has definitely helped for me with my kicking; to have the confidence to access different parts of the ground and be able to use my kick.

"I feel I have always had a reasonably good kick. It is a confidence thing. I feel I am playing with a bit of confidence that is helping the way that I am kicking and getting the ball in my hands."

The kick highlighted from Saturday's win against Essendon at Adelaide Oval was the inside-50 score assist to Dixon.

"Me and Charlie have a special connection," Houston said. "He is hard to miss on the field. You can see him leading out from a mile away.

"I like kicking the ball to him and he likes kicking goals. He doesn't like the ball at his knees. (But) he will compete every game whether the ball  is delivered to him really well or not. He follows up really well, that's what we like about Charlie."

Dixon will have to be accustomed seeing Houston in the back half, however.

"I feel I am best used behind the ball at the moment in defence," Houston said. "I still have that string to my bow to be able to play wing or in the midfield if we need - but at this stage it looks predominantly behind the ball and I feel confident there as well.

"(Working in the midfield has) opened my eyes to what it is like to be a midfielder and what is required in there. There are a lot of professional footballers in there - Ollie (Wines) and Boaky.

"You feed off them for a good year or so and take the game to the next level (on returning to defence). So I got  something out of it definitely and I have held onto a lot of the skills that I have developed in there. It has made me a better footballer overall."