"Lots of mistakes. Slippery. It's uncomfortable," Power coach Josh Carr said on the eve of Friday night's fixture.
"But it's the same for everyone."
The sixth-placed Suns are on a nine-game winning stretch in Darwin dating back to 2022, while Port haven't played in the city since 2013.
"It's a big challenge but I guess every win that they get, they're closer to a loss," Carr said.
"We got an opportunity to train last night at TIO (Stadium) and learn the conditions in the same time that we play.
"So it's more about the familiarity, to get an understanding of what it feels like.
"You have got to understand there's going to be mistakes - and lots of them.
"And you have got to play the game the right way: it's not a game where you can muck around with the footy, it's about getting the footy in front of you, getting it going forward, and playing really simple football."
Port have slipped to 14th with three defeats in their past four games, but the losses have been by three points to Hawthorn, one point to Adelaide, and two points to the Western Bulldogs last weekend.
Carr described as "horrible" his team's display against the Dogs.
"I don't think they (his players) would be surprised by that comment, I'm just backing up their own feelings about the game and how we played," he said.
"We're still doing a lot right. But the way we moved the footy last week isn't the way we want to move the footy.
"We probably tried to hang on to it for a bit long, and it's that balance between hanging on to the footy in possession to taking the footy forward and putting the opposition under pressure."
The Power lost Miles Bergman to a toe injury that could sideline him for three months, Josh Lai to concussion and axed Jacob Wehr, with Will Lorenz, Esava Ratugolea and debutant Tom Anastasopoulos summoned.
Gold Coast called up Brownlow medallist Matt Rowell, Jed Walter, Nick Holman and Zeke Uwland to replace Alex Davies (managed), Ben Jepson (dropped) and injured duo Ben Long and Ethan Read.
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