Inspired by the return of captain Warren Tredrea, Port Adelaide defied St Kilda and its own patchy recent form to stun the Saints with an entertaining four-point AFL victory in the Anzac Eve match at AAMI Stadium on Monday night.

The Power jumped out quickly, saw a four-goal halftime lead disappear early in term three, then held its nerve in the face of concerted Saints pressure to win 19.8 (122) to 18.10 (118) and bank its second set of premiership points for 2006.

Brendon Lade was left a sizeable task after fellow big man Dean Brogan shuffled off four minutes into the match with tender ribs, and he responded superbly with tireless work around the ground to win the Peter Badcoe VC medal for best exemplifying the Anzac spirit.

Port's high quality football was reminiscent of its admirable effort against Sydney a fortnight ago, and Chad Cornes played a game of similarly high calibre to that day.

He was helped along by the sterling efforts of Josh Mahoney (six goals), Peter Burgoyne (three), Stuart Dew (four), and Brad Symes, who topped 20 possessions in only his second senior match.

Tredrea kicked two and formed a useful forward partnership with Daniel Motlop before resting for much of the second half.

St Kilda star Nick Riewoldt (three goals) and Aaron Hamill (four) provided dangerous forward targets for the visitors, while Luke Ball and Nick Dal Santo had plenty of the ball.

A week ago neither Port nor Fremantle had registered a first quarter goal in perfect conditions, but the Power and the Saints made better use of the ball this time.

Port had a trio of trend-setting goals - two to Mahoney - inside seven minutes, before St Kilda replied through Brett Voss, Riewoldt and Steven Baker to level the scores.

Tredrea broke the deadlock with an authoritative mark and goal, and the Power maintained a two-goal break at the siren after Motlop fulfilled the dreams of all Port fans by crumbing expertly off Tredrea.

The margin only grew after the break, as Port took advantage of St Kilda's inexperience at the back.

Mahoney marked strongly over Baker for his fourth, and long bombs from designated kickers Lonie and Stuart Dew suggested Port's best form as the home side took its advantage out to 30 points, then maintained a comfortable, 24-point gap at the half.

Remarkably it evaporated just nine minutes into term three, St Kilda dominating in the middle through the canny work of Dal Santo.

Speedster Schwarze kicked two on the lead, Riewoldt added another and Ball's crumb levelled the scores to the disbelief of the crowd.

The Saints even led briefly thanks to Aaron Fiora's behind, and based on its patchy record since the start of 2005 the Power could have been expected to fold.

However two majors to Dew, another to Mahoney and Peter Burgoyne's third, at the end of an exhilarating defensive rebound, allowed Port to preserve a 15-point lead with a term to play.

Coach Mark Williams sensed the moment by ushering his team to a final huddle in front of the Power cheer squad.

Hamill chimed in with two precision shots to pull St Kilda within a kick after 10 minutes, but Port steadied through Dew and Mahoney, leaving the Saints with too much to do in the final minutes.

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