After two losses and a draw in the past three weeks, the Saints reignited their charge to a top-four finish in no uncertain terms as they outclassed the visitors to wine 23.13 (151) to 8.9 (57).
The Power desperately needed to put some scoreboard pressure on early if they were to pull off an upset, but their errant kicking quickly put paid to that notion.
Port opened the match with four straight behinds while the Saints registered five goals to set the tone for the afternoon.
The intensity and accountability of Port Adelaide under Matthew Primus was sadly lacking as St Kilda moved the ball inside 50 with apparent ease throughout.
Stephen Milne (four goals) and Adam Schneider (three) were an ever-present danger in attack, while skipper Nick Riewoldt continued his return to peak fitness with four goals on a day when his side had 13 different goalkickers.
A 24-point quarter-time lead was built upon at each change as the Power offered little in the way of resistance.
Lenny Hayes (34 possessions), Leigh Montagna (30) and Clinton Jones (28) provided the midfield grunt with Jones’ efforts all the more impressive when his superb negating role on Danyle Pearce was taken into account.
Playing mostly as a loose man in defence, Brendon Goddard marshalled the Saints’ back line with great poise on his way to 34 damaging possessions with Sam Fisher and Sam Gilbert providing excellent support.
St Kilda appeared to take the foot off the accelerator when Port kicked back-to-back goals for the first time late in the third quarter, but Ross Lyon was having none of that, with a 64-point three-quarter-time lead blowing out by the final siren.
The only possible sour note for St Kilda was the sight of Michael Gardiner, with his right hamstring iced, watching most of the second half from the sidelines.
St Kilda 5.4 10.10 16.12 23.13 (151)
Port Adelaide 1.4 3.5 6.8 8.9 (57)
GOALS
St Kilda: Milne 4, Riewoldt 4, Schneider 3, Hayes 2, McEvoy 2, Montagna, Koschitzke, Goddard, Fisher, Ray, Eddy, Gram, Jones
Port Adelaide: Schulz 2, Gray 2, Logan, Westhoff, Hitchcock, D Stewart
BEST
St Kilda: Hayes, Goddard, Jones, Schneider, Fisher, Dal Santo, Riewoldt, Milne
Port Adelaide: Boak, Chaplin, Brogan, Cornes
INJURIES
St Kilda: Gardiner (hamstring)
Port Adelaide: P Stewart (hip) replaced in selected side by Banner
Reports: Nil
Umpires: McLaren, Wenn, Avon
Official crowd: 22,467 at Etihad Stadium
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
