PORT ADELAIDE midfielder Kane Cornes has a swag of medals and accolades to his name, but the medal he received on Saturday is one honour he’ll hold dear to his heart.

The Peter Badcoe medal is presented to the player who best exemplifies the ANZAC spirit in the game played between Port Adelaide and St Kilda, which has become an ANZAC weekend tradition.

On Saturday night Kane Cornes finished three votes ahead of teammate Steve Salopek and joined his older brother Chad in winning the prestigious Peter Badcoe medal.

In 1970, Kane’s father, Graham Cornes, served in Vietnam with the 7th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment.

“This weekend is a chance for us to sit back and reflect on what the ANZACS did for us and, more specifically, what dad did for me and my family,” Cornes said.

“I’ve got a great interest in what he did, and I think it’s just a tremendous sacrifice he made. To have someone so close to me who is an ANZAC, this weekend is very important, not only to win, but to play well for the team.”

Port Adelaide did perform as a team on Saturday night in claiming the club’s second win for the season.

Coach Mark Williams showed faith in his core group of players during the team’s slow start to the season, and now appears to be reaping the benefits.

“As a group we remained pretty positive throughout the first four weeks," Cornes said.

"We thought we were in some pretty good form and, obviously, patches of some games let us down.

“As a whole, we really believed in our game style and we stuck at it. The coaches were pretty faithful in selection, which the players get a huge lift out of.

“As the weeks have gone on, everyone has improved. You saw the back line tonight and how good they were, and that was an area people were saying was a negative for us.

“It was great to see them working together and certain players, like Trav Boak and Steve Salopek have certainly stepped up.

“To go over to Perth and beat West Coast on a Sunday night and then to come back and beat St Kilda is a huge effort.

“Obviously, we’ve given other teams a head start by going 0-4, so every game is critical for us. I think we can string some games together now, definitely.”