After Anthony Rocca opened the scoring with an early goal the Power took the lead shortly after and was never headed in winning 15.11 (101) to 9.12 (66).
Collingwood drew to within a goal early in the final term and had a chance to steal the lead, but Port Adelaide, as it had done all day, answered with the final five goals of the match as the Magpie charge petered out.
Shaun Burgoyne was the star with five goals, including three in the final term, while Danyle Pearce showed his class with a sublime performance off a wing.
Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams would have been well pleased with his side’s performance.
Fielding a near full strength side, the Power looked classier by foot, had more avenues to goal and looked far sharper than their Magpie opponents.
The usual suspects in Chad and Kane Cornes, Brendon Lade and Peter Burgoyne all had an impact, while Brett Ebert, Daniel Motlop, Robbie Gray and Shaun Burgoyne combined for 11 of the side’s 15 goals to continually thwart every Magpie attempt to get back into the match.
The other man doing some thwarting was Pearce, with a best afield 33-disposal performance. His speed, skill and ability to work in traffic is something to watch.
Counterpart Travis Boak, the Power’s No.5 draft pick from 2006, also showed plenty and signalled he is ready to step up in 2008 with a solid showing off a wing.
But perhaps the most pleasing aspect for Williams was the fact his relatively inexperienced key defenders in Alipate Carlile, Michael Pettigrew and Toby Thurstans more than matched Rocca, Cloke and Sean Rusling, who apart from one nice mark and dish to Rocca for a goal, struggled to find the ball. It was his only possession for the day.
The fact Collingwood was able to get so close was a credit to the side’s tenacity given that all afternoon the Magpies were their own worst enemy.
Players continually missed targets, took the wrong option and generally lacked poise with the ball in their hands.
For a brief period late in the second term the Pies’ machine got rolling to cut the margin to a goal just before half time.
A Dale Thomas scissor-kick goal from a goal square ball-up just before half time provided the game’s highlight. Had it been home and away it would have been a serious goal of the year contender.
Thomas ended the game with two goals to be among the best, while Anthony Rocca kicked three in the opening half but struggled to get into the game after the main break.
Travis Cloke, opposed to youngster Carlile, kicked his only goal for the game early in the last term but presented well from centre half-forward and was the Magpies best forward.
At the other end coach Mick Malthouse experimented with Chris Dawes in defence in the absence of Simon Prestigiacomo and Nick Maxwell. Dawes stuck to his guns.
The Pies were without Scott Burns, Tarkan Lockyer and Maxwell.
COLLINGWOOD 1.3 6.4 8.8 9.12 (66)
PORT ADELAIDE 4.1 8.6 10.8 15.11 (101)
GOALS – COLLINGWOOD: Rocca 3, Thomas 2, Swan, Wood, Medhurst, Cloke
PORT ADELAIDE: S Burgoyne 5, Motlop 2, Gray 2, Ebert 2, Tredrea, Westhoff, Salter, Rodan,
BEST – COLLINGWOOD: T Cloke, R Shaw, Egan, Swan.
PORT ADELAIDE: Pearce, S Burgoyne, K Cornes, Salopek, C Cornes.
