PORT Adelaide has thumped St Kilda by 70 points at Adelaide Oval on Saturday to reaffirm its position at the top of the ladder.
The menacing Robbie Gray, who kicked four goals, and Chad Wingard, who took a memorable mark of the year contender as well as bagging three majors, were the stars of the evening for the Power as they trounced the Saints 19.15 (129) to 9.5 (59).
Port's midfield brigade of Hamish Hartlett (36 disposals), Ollie Wines (26 disposals) and stand-in captain Brad Ebert (22 disposals, nine tackles) stood up to great effect in the absence of skipper Travis Boak.
Having kept the Saints to fewer than 10 goals, Power coach Ken Hinkley claimed his team was back to its best.
"One of the areas that we had a bit of a focus on going into the game was that we wanted to get back to defending somewhere near our best and tonight, credit to the boys, they were able to do that," Hinkley said.
"The (inside 50) entries, 34 against – don't worry about the 'fors' – it's more about the against and when you're able to defend that hard it's going to be really hard for sides to kick a winning score."
The Saints, led by captain Nick Riewoldt's four-goal haul, also had solid contributions from veteran Lenny Hayes (26 disposals, seven tackles) and midfield duo Jack Steven (29 disposals) and Luke Dunstan (24 disposals).
The Power raced out to an early lead in the opening term, piling on four goals without reply.
The visitors finally hit the scoreboard with a goal when Riewoldt capitalised on a 50-metre penalty, before the Saints skipper threaded through another after the siren to reduce the margin to 13 points.
The second stanza was a tight affair with the first major for either side finally coming after 17 minutes when Saints midfielder Josh Saunders goaled.
St Kilda then stunned the home faithful of 42,374 when Terry Milera tied up the match at 29 apiece after a clever finish.
Port hit back instantly when Hartlett unleashed a booming goal from outside 50 that was the catalyst for a customary Power fightback as the hosts piled on three goals in a frenetic three minutes to extend their lead to 19 points at the main break.
Port hit full throttle following halftime, thumping through six unanswered goals before the Saints could add to their total to race out to a 53-point lead at three-quarter time.
Wingard's second major was the pick of the bunch in the third term after the forward maestro took a spectacular high-rise grab before cheekily snapping through a goal.
The Power registered six more majors in the last quarter, including two to Jay Schulz, to put the icing on a huge win.
Saints coach Alan Richardson praised the aggression of Tom Simkpin, who laid out two Power opponents fairly, but admitted his side was too often a step behind the play.
"We were second to the footy, I thought Port more often than not were first and we were a bit tardy," Richardson said.
"Our intent to be really aggressive and physical was probably typified by Tommy Simpkin, I thought that he didn't get a lot of the footy but he really played aggressive for us in front of the ball."
This Jay Schulz grab is no Chad Wingard but it's still a spectacular stretch. Picture: AFL Media
PORT ADELAIDE 4.3 7.6 13.10 19.15 (129)
ST KILDA 2.2 4. 5 5.5 9.5 (59)
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Gray 4, Wingard, Schulz 3, Polec, Lobbe, Trengove, Hartlett, Impey, Westhoff, Pittard, Cassisi, Ebert
St Kilda: Riewoldt 4, Saunders 2, Milera, Hayes, Dunstan
BEST
Port Adelaide: Gray, Lobbe, Hartlett, Wines, Impey, Pittard
St Kilda: Riewoldt, Hayes, Steven, Dunstan, Saunders, Ross
INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Nil
St Kilda: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Port Adelaide: Jared Polec replaced by Ben Newton in the third quarter
St Kilda: Sam Dunell replaced by Jack Billings in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Donlon, Dalgleish, Leppard
Official crowd: 43,374 at Adelaide Oval
