PORT Adelaide defender Alipate Carlile says his side used the embarrassing 95-point loss to Geelong last weekend as motivation for its shock win over St Kilda at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.
 
The Power were completely outclassed by the Cats after half time last weekend, prompting more questions over their ability to beat a genuine premiership contender.

After the game, coach Mark Williams compared the performances of the two teams as being like, ‘men versus boys’ but vowed the Power would learn from the experience.

On Saturday night Port Adelaide put those lessons into practice, with a gutsy display against the Saints.

The home side laid 81 tackles in the low-scoring affair and pressured St Kilda into uncharacteristic skill errors.

Carlile said the Power players had set themselves for a more competitive effort after being belted by the Cats.

“We were pretty disappointed with the way we played last week, in the second half especially. We wanted to come out and prove to the coaches and to everyone that we could do it and beat a top side,” Carlile said.

“We really matched St Kilda with our pressure skills tonight. We worked on it a fair bit during the week because we were trying to get some competitiveness back into the team.

"That’s what we came to do and thankfully it worked tonight.”

Carlile held St Kilda forward Justin Koschitzke goalless in the Power’s 10-point win, while teammate Troy Chaplin (32 disposals and 12 marks) had the better of pinch-hitting goalkicker Brendon Goddard.

But the best-on-ground honours went to Port Adelaide midfielder David Rodan.

Rodan inspired the Power with his clearance work in the second half and also chimed in with a handy goal.

Carlile said he was thrilled to see his cousin perform so well in just his second game back from a knee reconstruction.

“D-Rod never ceases to amaze me. His attention to detail during his rehab was fantastic and the way he played tonight was just a good reward for the four months of hard work he’s done so far,” he said.

“It’s a building block he can work on and he’s still got room for improvement, which is the scary part.”