A dominant performance by Sydney action man Adam Goodes guided the Swans to a 27-point victory over Port Adelaide in a drab AFL encounter at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

Finals-bound Sydney had two majors on the board within three minutes of the first bounce and exerted a considerable midfield advantage from there on, to win 10.17 (77) to 7.8 (50).

In doing so the Swans absorbed a horrid period of inaccuracy in the second term, when they registered six consecutive behinds.

Goodes had influence everywhere on the ground and received more than handy support from Amon Buchanan and numerous others around the middle, while Barry Hall terrorised Port veteran Darryl Wakelin on the way to booting 3.3.

Swans tall Darren Jolly fought an honourable ruck draw with Port's Brendon Lade and also managed two goals.

The Power relied heavily on the industry of Kane and Chad Cornes, and the run of Danyle Pearce, and sustained a further blow to its depleted playing stocks when midfielder Steve Salopek shuffled off in the second term with what appeared to be a serious shoulder injury.

Sydney had swapped one South Australian for another before the game, withdrawing Nic Fosdike (calf strain) for debutant Tim Schmidt.

A thin crowd - officially recorded as 23,183 - dawdled into the ground for the first term, which was characterised by early Port errors that Sydney capitalised on.

Buchanan was in fine form, beginning the quarter by setting up a goal for Jarrad McVeigh after Wakelin's poor turnover, and ending it by guiding one through after the siren for the Swans' fifth.

In between the bookends Hall made his presence felt and Port only stayed in touch with a trio of opportunist goals from limited time in possession.

They became more pertinent in term two as the Swans failed to capitalise on a host of forays into attack.

Goodes and Luke Ablett both spurned chances, but the worst offender was Michael O'Loughlin, whose shanked kick from scarcely 10m out could only be blamed on a recurrence of the yips that confounded him during last year's grand final.

It took some better finishing from O'Keefe in time-on to stretch the margin beyond four goals.

A deluge shortly after the players returned ensured the remainder of the game would be a miserable scrap, suited to the blue collar Swans.

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