For Port Adelaide’s Jacob Surjan, the trip home to the West couldn’t have gone any better.

Surjan was plucked from South Fremantle, an area with a rich football history, with Port’s first pick in the 2004 pre-season draft.

The Dockers appeared to be cruising early in the third term when they kicked two goals in as many minutes to lead by 34 points, but that sparked a Power surge that saw them kick 10 of the next 12 goals and run out 16-point winners.

“I was really nervous,” the 22-year-old said. “I really got myself up for this game – I’m a Freo boy through and through, but Port Adelaide’s my club now, and I’m going to be there for a long time hopefully.

“I really set myself for this game – Freo’s a premiership favourite, and it was just outstanding that we got up and won. No-one backed us in to win, but we came over here with a plan, and it paid off, so we got the win.”

Like all good plans the concept was simple, even if the execution was not.

“Plenty of run – we’ve got a lot of leg-speed so we wanted to use our runners. It probably took us about a quarter to get into it, but when we did we really showed our legs.

“It’s a credit to the fitness staff – they did an outstanding job over the pre-season, and we can’t thank them enough.

“So the plan worked.”

The fighting Port spirit was on full display, and the half-back paid tribute to his teammates, and to the fans who managed to get seats at the game.

“It just shows the character of the boys – this team’s outstanding, it’s got a lot of character and we really believe in ourselves. Fremantle’s a really good team – it’s just a credit to this football club, and it’s a real credit to our supporters as well.”

Surjan said it was nice to win the first game of the season at any time, let alone away against a highly-ranked team.

“It definitely is – you do seven months of pre-season, all for one game, round one. All the heartache we went through with our pre-season was all worth it.

“This is why we play footy.”