WHILE there was little resistance from its opponent on Friday night, St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt said his side was braced for a Port Adelaide outfit that had dominated their AAMI Stadium encounters for 11 years.

Riewoldt didn't subscribe to Port Adelaide midfielder Kane Cornes' recent comments that teams travelling to the venue weren't giving the Power enough respect or considering them a finals contender.

"We rate Port Adelaide very highly … they’ve been a side that we’ve always had a lot of respect for and we still do," he said after the game.

"I think tonight was a bit of an aberration for them. They’re a very good football team and they’ll have a great year, I’m sure."

The Saints, 66-point winners in a match they controlled from the first bounce, were able to end an unsuccessful run against the Power at AAMI Stadium that had started in round 22, 1997.

Riewoldt, who finished the games with four goals and 23 possessions, said pressure around the ground was central to ending the hoodoo.

"They’ve always restricted our scoring really well but I thought we were able to apply really good pressure tonight," he said.

"That was the catalyst for us to be able to put a bit of scoreboard pressure on.

"Port have historically been a side that we’ve found difficult to beat so to come over here and to play the way we did consistently for four quarters is very pleasing."

Riewoldt added that a shared effort meant Port Adelaide's forwards saw little of the ball.

"Port have a lot of good players that we knew we had to shut down if we wanted to win," he said. "Right across the board everyone had a specific job and carried out that job very well.

"The forwards and the midfielders applied good pressure, which made the defensive job a bit easier on those attacking players."

Undefeated, St Kilda will remain on top of the premiership table after five rounds but has faced just two sides that played finals football last year – the Sydney Swans and Adelaide.

However, the Saints meet 2008 preliminary finalists the Western Bulldogs next week and Riewoldt believes the victory over Port Adelaide shows his side is clearly up to it.

"I think you can only be judged on the opportunities that you have to play and so far we’ve performed well in every game," he said.

"Next week is a new challenge and the Bulldogs are a very good side.

"We’re going to review this one pretty quickly and look forward to next week."