Saints go marching all over Power
Unbeaten St Kilda marched to a 66-point hiding of Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Friday night to maintain a hot pace at the top of the AFL ladder.
The Saints outclassed the Power in every department to complete a 15.12 (102) to 5.6 (36) victory, silencing the home supporters early with six goals to one into the breeze in the opening term and never being challenged thereafter.
It is the Saints' first road win over Port since 1997.
Choked up by St Kilda's vaunted "frontal pressure" and tackling, Port were left with no obvious paths to goal for long stretches, failing to trouble the goal umpire in term two.
The halftime scoreline of 1.3 (9) was the lowest of Port's history, beating 1.8 (14) against Fremantle in 2000, while the final score narrowly avoided passing the 4.8 (32) scored against Richmond in 1999 as their lowest fulltime tally.
Lenny Hayes, Sam Fisher, Nick Riewoldt (three goals) and Stephen Milne (three) were all excellent for the Saints amid an exceptionally even team display, Hayes a stand-out choice as best afield.
The Saints' only concern was an apparent injury to ruckman Stephen King, which kept him off the field after halftime.
Captain Dom Cassisi, Robbie Gray and Nick Dal Santo's minder Kane Cornes were among the handful of players to contribute for the Power, who also had two players reported.
Troy Chaplin and Dean Brogan were booked for high contact in the second quarter, meaning the Power have now had seven players before the match review panel in the first five rounds.
Fisher had the luxury of playing loose in defence and was able to create plenty of attack while cutting off many of Port's hurried forays in the opening minutes.
Further upfield Hayes, Andrew McQualter and young Jarryn Geary did plenty of damage.
Geary's goal resulted from an inspired combination with Brendon Goddard, while McQualter's blink-and-you'll-miss-it give to Jason Gram paved the way for Riewoldt to arrow through his second.
The Power's only major of the half arrived in the midst of a surreal two-minute patch where three 50m penalties were awarded, but the overall impression was of a high quality St Kilda side leaving Port either chasing at shadows or turning the ball over under great pressure.
Frustrations among the home side simmered to the surface in the second, after Riewoldt's third followed a comical collision between Chaplin and Josh Carr.
Chaplin and then Brogan were reported, again providing evidence that Port are yet to find the balance between tough and undisciplined acts.
Milne put the cap on the half by dribbling through a wonderful opportunist's goal in the closing seconds to deepen the misery for the Power.
Fifty-six points clear at the half, St Kilda did not let up though they had the game virtually won, and it took a marginal improvement by the Power to stop the final margin from breaking three figures.
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