AFTER a terrific win against Richmond in oppressive conditions in Darwin, Port Adelaide returned home to take on the Blues in the twilight match for Round 11, ahead of their first bye for the 2011 season.

In the SANFL curtain-raiser, Port Adelaide Magpies performed strongly, defeating an inaccurate Sturt side as both sides battled swirly winds, and in a dominant final term display ran out 14.5.89 to 6.15.51 winners.

While the forecast was for hail and stormy weather in the early stages of the week leading up to the game, the weather gods smiled on both Port Adelaide sides with the wind the only major weather factor coming up against all teams playing at AAMI Stadium on the first Sunday in June.

Andrew Moore once again found himself as the starting sub, joined on the pine by Daniel Motlop, Hamish Hartlett and Cam O’Shea.

The Power won the ball straight out of the centre, with Broadbent booting it long before the Blues rebounded for the first time in Round 11. Carlton were inaccurate from a set shot but the Power missed from a Chaplin snap soon after to tie scores up early in the first term.

Justin Westhoff earned a free deep forward and made no mistake from a tight angle to kick the first goal of the day - it was followed soon after by a nice set shot goal from Motlop, who needed to kick the goal having turned his back on the play, where O’Shea had drifted forward unmarked.

After some hard contests around the ground, Murphy was able to charge through the middle after a free kick was paid to advantage, drilling the ball to Walker who kicked truly from his set shot. A nice piece of transition play from the Power saw the ball moved quickly and cleanly from half-back to Surjan in the forward line, who then picked out Schulz who took the set shot and missed narrowly to the left-hand side.

The Blues then effected similarly wonderful movement, resulting in a goal to Walker after an error by hand from Pittard saw the ball turned over again across half-back, allowing Garlett to gift it to Walker who dribbled it through. If basic errors such as that can be eliminated from his game, Pittard has the capacity to be a star - his ability to influence transition football is absolutely brilliant, but basic turnovers within the play will hurt every time.

O’Hailpin tied up scores with a shot that pounded straight into the post. Soon after the ball was handed to Pittard who this time kicked long to Motlop, who was able to turn and play on, with the ball ricocheting off Gray’s boot to Westhoff, who ran into an open goal to score his second of the day.

The Power’s attack on the ball was nothing short of superb - while they weren’t quite putting on the scoreboard with massive results, the Power were showing massively positive signs, and while Boak couldn’t mark running with the flight into goal Westhoff certainly could, booting his third of the day. Soon after Walker got that back to make a 5 point gap deep into the first term in the Power’s favour.

Brogan went down deep in the Blues forward line with what looked like a knee injury late in the quarter, but the warrior was able to hobble off and was in the quarter time huddle looking every bit the champ he is.

QUARTER TIME: 4.2.26 to 3.3.21. Goals: Westhoff 3, Motlop. Possessions: Broadbent and Chaplin 8 apiece, Motlop, Pearce, Pittard and Westhoff all with 7.

Matt Thomas had done a terrific job on Judd in the first term, with Kane Cornes putting a strong clamp on Murphy, who admittedly got busier as the first term progressed. Closing them down would be incredibly important in maintaining the momentum created in the first term.

After the Blues had kicked a couple of points the Power was able to again continue their strong showing, with a clever kick over the top by Boak giving the ball to Broadbent, who was allowed by strong shepherding from Gray to stream into goal.

A free to Brogan in the centre square was handballed to Pittard who pinpointed it to Schulz at the 50, but his long set shot was inaccurate. Some outstanding ball movement from the backline resulted in a set shot at goal for Phillips, who missed to the right as the strong breeze pushed it that way.

A long kick at the other end by Waite was similarly pushed wide by the breeze, but Walker’s long shot from outside 50 brought him his fourth goal of the game to make it a 4 point gap just as time on kicked in in an incredibly tight game, with another inaccurate kick from Waite after some burning pace from Yarran saw Carlton kick another point.

Extraordinary defensive pressure from the Power in their own forward 50 went richly rewarded as eventually the ball was booted to Schulz who ran into an open goal to kick his first of the day - it was the sort of hard work that you hope never goes unrewarded on this occasion most certainly did not. The Blues were similarly rewarded with hard running from Waite seeing Betts get a goal to keep it tight at half-time.

HALF TIME: 6.4.40 to 5.7.37. Goals: Westhoff3, Motlop, Broadbent, Schulz. Possessions: Chaplin 15, Cornes and Westhoff 13, Broadbent, Motlop and Pearce all 12.

The quarter opened with the ball going Carlton’s way, but the overlap spread by Port was terrific - Thomas got it on the split and gave it to Boak, who pinpointed Phillips - unfortunately his kick was spoiled by teammates deep forward. The desire and intent to play on was clear, and they soon had another forward 50 entry with Broadbent’s snap around the body sailing wide.

A 50m free for Carlton gave them the lead for the first time since the first quarter, with Thomas the man who cost his side on the scoreboard. A fabulous kick by Murphy set up Betts, who made no mistake, pushing the lead out to 7 points.

Another brilliant piece of transition play saw Pettigrew trap an errant kick, play the one-two with Chaplin, a long kick forward to Westhoff who then handed it to Boak to get it back to a 1 point game. It was the sort of highlights reel moment that you want to see over and over and over again.

After some tight contesting the Blues were eventually able to force a deliberate defensive clearing kick, which was - correctly - paid as deliberate out of bounds, and the accurate Walker made absolutely no mistake from the set shot to take the lead back out to 8 points. A set shot by Waite narrowly missed. A terrible kicking error by Logan saw the ball drilled to Robinson directly in front, about 50m out, and he too missed a set shot. Class came to the fore at the end of the quarter as a blind handball from Carazzo gave Betts another chance, but inaccuracy continued to dog the Blues. Ellard had a third opportunity to push the lead out close to 3 goals late in the third term and he struck it nicely, making it a 16 point game.

THREE-QUARTER TIME: 7.7.49 to 9.11.65. Goals: Westhoff 3, Motlop, Broadbent, Schulz, Boak. Possessions: Chaplin, Cornes and Pearce 17, Broadbent and Thomas 16, Boak, Motlop and Westhoff 15.

To begin the first term, Moore was brought on for O’Shea. As the rain started coming down, some brilliant work in traffic from Betts gifted the ball to Walker who kicked his sixth goal of the game to stretch it out to 22 points early in the last term. Garlett then kicked another after the ball was turned over straight away from the kick-in of another Waite point, making it a 29 point game.

Robinson’s great game for the Blues continued as Robinson rained on the Power’s parade, booting another goal in the final term to really begin blowing Port Adelaide away as the rain teemed down. Murphy dribbled one way as the rain continued, the ball skidding straight in the wet conditions. It was a disappointing finish for the Power, who’d been valiant for three quarters, really sticking with the Blues.

But the final quarter was a sky blue procession as the Blues, playing in their away strip, ran away from the Power with Yarran booting his first for the game to make it a 50 point game as time on ticked over in the final term.

Garlett booted his third and then his fourth for the game to push the lead out even further as the Power seemed unable to get the ball forward in the last term, going scoreless accordingly.

FINAL SCORE:7.7.49 to 15.15.105

GOALS:Westhoff 3, Motlop, Broadbent, Schulz, Boak.

Possessions: Boak and Cornes 22, Chaplin, Motlop and Pearce 20, Pittard, Thomas and Westhoff 19.

Crowd: 23,192