PORT Adelaide maintained second place on the AFL ladder by cruising to a 40-point win over Richmond at AAMI Stadium this afternoon.

The superior class and execution of the Power set up a 43-point margin at half time, after which the gap was never closer than 38 points. And for the Mark Williams’ men, the result sets up a keenly anticipated match-up with last year’s grand finalist Sydney at the SCG next Sunday.

Port was stronger, smoother and had more weapons at its disposal, although rather than hand Richmond a second thrashing in successive weeks, the home side was outscored by three points after half-time, tarnishing a polished first two quarters of work.

Forward Damon White was the game’s dominant target when the match was decided in the first half, taking advantage of the undersized Richmond defence to take nine marks and kick a pair of goals by the long break.

White spent time on the bench with a slight thigh strain and cramp, but finished with 13 marks and 21 touches.

His teammates had the advantage of seldom delivering the ball under pressure, capitalising on countless Tiger turnovers to break forward with ease.

Kane Cornes led that charge, gathering 27 touches; his brother Chad produced a 26-touch outing of typical quality, which featured some superb contested work.

And ruckman Brendon Lade relished the return of teammate Dean Brogan, spelling up forward and adding three goals to his 15 possessions. Brogan’s appearance was heartening - spending much of the first term on the bench, he worked into the contest to finish with 10 touches and 20 hit outs.

Peter Burgoyne was also a standout, and David Rodan – delisted by the Tigers in the off-season - celebrated heartily when he booted each of his two goals.

That final quarter fadeout aside – Richmond kicked five goals to two in the final stanza – it was an impressive outing for the Power, who extended a 14-point quarter-time margin into a comfortable 43-point edge at the half.

It seemed that they had plenty up their sleeve when required: a goal from Richmond utility Shane Tuck 17 minutes into the third term closed the margin to 38 points, only to spark majors from Daniel Motlop, Nathan Lonie and Danyle Pearce in five minutes, and any sense of contest was extinguished.

For the Tigers, Graham Polak was honest against Warren Tredrea, keeping the Port skipper to a single goal; Nathan Foley toiled for his 30 touches, Joel Bowden played with typical poise deep in defence and skipper Kane Johnson injected increased physical presence around the ball.

Port Adelaide: B Lade 3 D White 2 D Rodan 2 D Motlop 2 D Pearce 2 S Burgoyne P Burgoyne K Cornes N Lonie W Tredrea.
Richmond: J Schulz 2 K Pettifer 2 M Richardson 2 B Deledio 2 G Polak S Tuck.

BEST

Port Adelaide: B Lade D White K Cornes C Cornes P Burgoyne D Pearce D Cassisi.
Richmond: N Foley K Johnson J Bowden G Tivendale B Deledio.

Umpires: L Farmer B Rosebury S Grun

Official crowd: 26,232 at AAMI Stadium

Reports: Nil.