Sydney won the gripping match 16.9 (105) to 14.10 (94), after being headed during the last quarter by a charging Power.
The win leaves Sydney in touch with the top four, and two-and-a-half wins plus a large slice of percentage clear of fellow finals aspirant Port Adelaide.
Jarred Moore was sensational for the Swans, booting three goals and gathering 19 possessions in a best afield performance, while captain Brett Kirk was magnificent with 31 touches, including 12 in the desperate last term.
For the Power – who trailed all day before hitting the front late in the last term – Brett Ebert was superb with six goals, while skipper Warren Tredrea booted three.
Port opened with the breeze, but it was the Swans who had the better of the first term, leading by 12 points at quarter time in an unexpectedly open 14-goal fiesta.
The Swans shared the joy around in their highest scoring first quarter for the season (8.1), but it was Ryan O’Keefe in his 150th match who Port just couldn’t find a match-up for.
The Sydney half-forward booted two goals and set up a couple more, while Moore and Amon Buchanan were also busy, Moore’s quarter highlighted by a sensational goal where he pinballed between three Port defenders before slotting on the goal line.
With Adam Goodes and Kirk dominant in the midfield – Goodes shaking the tightest tagger in the game in Kane Cornes – Sydney could have been further in front but for an opportunist three-goal quarter from Port small forward Ebert.
As expected the second term tightened up considerably.
After Buchanan put Sydney 17 points up with the first goal of the quarter, Port steadied. Kane Cornes got the better of the battle with Goodes, restricting the Swans run, while several of Port’s onballers got going, including Steven Salopek (nine possessions in the quarter), Travis Boak and Danyle Pearce (four inside-50s for the term).
Port drew back within three points midway through the quarter after goals to Tredrea and Ebert, before Sydney steadied through Darren Jolly and Moore.
By half-time Port had more possessions and inside 50s, but Sydney still led by 11 points. The Swans had eight different goalkickers, while seven of Port’s nine goals had come from Tredrea (three) and Ebert (four).
After half-time the game tightened even further.
Ebert bagged his fifth after just four minutes, capitalising on a sensational tackle by eighth-gamer Robbie Gray on Craig Bolton, but then the game became a war of attrition.
Kieren Jack was instrumental in keeping the Swans moving forward (10 possessions and seven handball receives for the quarter), but it was another 13 minutes of football before the next goal came. When it did it was two in a minute to the mercurial Michael O’Loughlin, the first created by Moore and the second set up by a Goodes burst from the centre.
With Sydney back out to a game-high 18 point lead it was Ebert who again kept Port in touch, bagging his sixth after turning Leo Barry around at half-forward.
The last quarter opened with two goals in two minutes to the Power, the first to Peter Burgoyne after a superb ruck tap from Dean Brogan, and the second to Daniel Motlop on the run from 50 metres.
It took another 12 minutes before the next came, but it was another piece of Motlop magic, dodging past Paul Bevan before slotting on the run again from 50, to put Port in front for the first time all day.
Hectic passages of play followed with several chances for Port to go further in front but only a point resulting, before a counter-attacking goal to Moore levelled the scores.
Sydney now hosts Richmond next Sunday at the SCG, while the Power travel to Subiaco to meet Fremantle.
Port Adelaide 6.1 9.5 11.7 14.10 (94)
Sydney Swans 8.1 11.4 13.9 16.9 (105)
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Ebert 6, Tredrea 3, Motlop 2, Lade, Gray, P Burgoyne
Sydney Swans: Moore 3, O’Keefe 2, O’Loughlin 2, Buchanan 2, McVeigh 2, Kirk, Bevan, Bolton, Jolly, Schmidt
BEST
Port Adelaide: Ebert, Salopek, Cassisi, Brogan, Tredrea, K Cornes
Sydney Swans: Moore, Kirk, Buchanan, Jack, Goodes, J Bolton, C Bolton
INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Ebert (ankle)
Sydney Swans: Nil reported
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Margetts, Rosebury, McInerney
Official crowd: 25,013 at AAMI Stadium
The views expressed in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or clubs.
