PORT ADELAIDE holds a dominant record over St Kilda in recent years but the sides may be closer than history suggests.

While the Power has won the last six matches between the sides, three of those games were decided by less than a goal.

The last time the sides met, Port won in a thriller with Robbie Gray booting the winning goal with less than 20 seconds to play.

At Adelaide Oval Port has won all four games the sides have played, while the Saints are yet to win at the venue in eight attempts.

Overall the Power has won 18 of the 28 encounters with the Saints.

Port Adelaide doesn’t have such a good record in Round 16, having lost seven of its last eight matches in that round.

Saturday afternoon’s match will be Steven Motlop’s 150th in the AFL, having played 135 for Geelong and 14 since crossing to the Power at the end of last year.

The teams

Injury has forced Port Adelaide into two changes and it has made two other changes for the game against the Saints.

Jasper Pittard (hamstring) and Sam Gray (ankle) are being rested due to injury concerns while Todd Marshall and Jack Hombsch make way for more experience.

Tom Jonas has recovered from a hamstring complaint to take his spot and Darcy Byrne-Jones returns after losing his spot for being late to training.

Small forward Aidyn Johnson will play just his third AFL game of the season and first since Round 7 while Jack Watts has earned a recall after two solid performances in the SANFL.

The Saints have been dealt some injury blows of their own losing Josh Battle and the experienced Jake Carlisle and Nathan Brown. They have also omitted Bailey Rice.

Coming into the side are backmen Jimmy Webster and Sam Gilbert while Logan Austin will play his first game against his old side and Nathan Wright will get his opportunity to impress as a defensive forward.

The last word

Ken Hinkley:

"Their willingness to take the game on was really clear.

"Knowing (Saints coach) Alan (Richardson) a little bit, you'd suggest they would continue on that path and give us some real challenges."

“We’ve talked about the word unconditional, we expect and respect that that’s what we want to be.

“You have to do that against whoever you play against, we’re not silly enough (to get complacent), we’re looked at the competition.

“We’ve seen St Kilda beat Melbourne last week so this competition gives you no reason to be overconfident.”

Alan Richardson:

"We can't play finals, so we're looking to give people opportunities.

“We obviously need to keep building our own form, the last couple of weeks have been positive and we're looking to build on that.

"We just got pipped against Port the last time we came over, so we're keen to make sure we stay in good form."

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