St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has hailed his players' courage in key moments, which earned the Saints a comeback win over Port Adelaide and a place in the AFL's top eight.

Outplayed for three quarters at Telstra Dome and in danger of dropping another game to a side out of the finals race, the Saints rallied in the last quarter to post a gutsy 14.17 (101) to 14.9 (93) win.

Their victory - just their second over Port since 2000 - came as reward for a handful of inspiring acts when the game was in the balance.

Captain Nick Riewoldt took a brilliant pack mark after running back with the flight of the ball and kicked a goal to put his side eight points up, just minutes after Robert Harvey received a thunderous ovation from a small crowd of 22,878 for returning to the field from what appeared a serious head injury the previous quarter.

Luke Ball then produced a remarkable display of courage, bordering on craziness, when he ran back with the ball into harm's way and launched himself skywards.

The midfielder, outstanding all day, was flattened by teammate Justin Koschitzke, but the contest pushed the ball St Kilda's way and allowed Jason Gram to boot the sealing goal.

Add a couple of smothers by James Gwilt and Nick Dal Santo, and it was little wonder Lyon compared the Saints' brave moments to the sort of sacrifices Hawthorn players regularly made throughout the 1980s.

"You need those acts," Lyon said.

"I've had some contact with (former Hawthorn coaches Alan) Joyce and (Allan) Jeans, and they talk about 'There's a moment in a game when someone has to go'.

"Today our players did that, they went."

Ball suffered a corked thigh and was also left dazed after being crunched and needed assistance off the field.

Harvey also needed help in the third term, after his head was smashed into the turf in a slinging tackle laid by Port's Jacob Surjan.

Riewoldt finished with three goals despite being double-teamed all day, but did not benefit from the Saints' poor kicking to their forwards.

In contrast, Port looked like the side playing for a finals berth, as their efficiency moving the ball and pressure skills were much better.

Justin Westhoff's three-goal burst in the third term and Travis Boak's excellent job getting the ball 28 times while keeping Lenny Hayes quiet put the Power 13 points up at the last change, when an upset beckoned.

But St Kilda began winning the ball from stoppages and finding targets, and booted five goals to two for the quarter.

"We took five marks inside 50 in the last quarter but we did attack deep and Koschitzke and Riewoldt took some good marks," Lyon said.

"A lot of players stood up and we started getting some reward for effort."

After this escape, St Kilda's next test is against Collingwood on Saturday night, where the loser could drop out of the eight.

"You don't get any more points but you're running out of opportunities to get enough wins on the board and clearly we haven't got enough yet, so every week is really important," Lyon said.

Port coach Mark Williams said his most damaging midfielders could not get the ball when it mattered, but also acknowledged St Kilda had greater incentive in the final term.

"St Kilda had something to play for and maybe we didn't," he said.

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