THIRTEEN. It just had to be by 13 points. No other margin could have been more appropriate to the ill-fated script that engulfed the Port Adelaide Football Club in the lead-up to the round 18 clash with St Kilda in Melbourne.

When 200-game half-forward Steven Motlop went under the surgeon’s knife last week - the 13th surgery for a Port Adelaide player this season, the image was made of a club bereft of luck falling under a darker and darker cloud of potential gloom.

As they say, the harder you work, the luckier you become.

And the 23-man team sent to Melbourne's empty Docklands Stadium on Saturday morning could not have worked harder that afternoon to ensure Port Adelaide banked another four premiership points - probably the sweetest of the season so far.

Those four points put Port Adelaide back in the AFL's top four, secured the 12th win from 17 matches this season - making a finals appearance in September now a certainty - and reiterated the power of the squad rather than a "best 22" at Alberton.

For all the bad vibes that came from an ever growing injury list and the COVID-enforced demands for a hit-and-run mission in Melbourne on short notice, Port Adelaide never became overwhelmed by the challenge of dealing with a resurgent St Kilda.

The attitude was true to a team that wants to live to the mantra of "anyone, anywhere, any time".

The effort was exactly in line with the "never, ever give in" DNA of the Ken Hinkley era. 

The result defines this Port Adelaide at a time when the questions directed at Alberton were becoming as sharp as those surgeons' knives that have recently worked on Motlop, Zak Butters, Xavier Duursma, Connor Rozee, Lachie Jones, Tom Clurey, Robbie Gray, Orazio Fantasia, Kane Farrell and others.

And the knives carried by the pundits - and non-believers - are never as helpful of those worked by surgeons.

This game was about the spirit that lives in a squad. But there are individuals who - either for their endless commitment to the challenge or their cameos when the moment came - who need to be singled out.

Vice-captain Ollie Wines during the week put up the right attitudes: "We are not in any way in a doom mindset ... we back ourselves to be a resilient  group." The bullish midfielder then lived it: 36 disposals, 11 clearances and 18 contested possessions in a game that always was to be about the contest. For the 11th time this season, Port Adelaide won the match by winning the contested-ball indicator (136-128).

Boyd Woodcock could have been cast as the "last small man standing" while every other Port Adelaide small forward was absent by the injury curse. His persistence had its appropriate reward after he missed his first two shots (set shots) at goal during the third term. His presence at the front of a goalsquare contest, his smother on St Kilda key defender Dougal Howard's disposal, his sharp and clean pick-up, his quick and accurate snap for Port Adelaide's fifth goal ... hard work certainly has it rewards.

Miles Bergman. Finally - finally! - the versatile, second-year midfielder is in conversations for a Rising Star nomination. For many weeks he has shown the eagerness - and boldness - to attack marking contests by running into oncoming packs. His timing to either claim the mark or to deny the mark to an opponent is perfect. And - finally - it is being noticed, along with his constructive plays.

Mitch Georgiades kicked 4.0 (with one rather bizarre shot going out of bounds on the full) to ensure a Port Adelaide line-up deprived of its opportunistic small forwards did not become vulnerable to any heavy reliance on key forward Charlie Dixon.

And the third peg in this triple-tandem of tall forwards, Todd Marshall, might have shut the traps of his impatient doubters tighter than the Docklands Stadium roof by influencing the game at its hottest moments. There were critical intercept marks in defence and attack late in the game - and five score involvements and that lead-building goal assist to Georgiades in the final quarter.

Sam Mayes once again tormented an opposition defence in the most testing moments.

Trent McKenzie - in an enthralling contest with St Kilda tall forward Max King - proved he can give an opponent 11 centimetres on the measuring tape but he will not concede a millimetre in a marking contest. McKenzie would have (should have actually) finished the game having kept King to just one behind if there was not that unfortunate kick to the St Kilda goalsquare by team-mate Ryan Burton with 12 seconds to play in the third term.

Port Adelaide was challenged by circumstances, external doubts and questions after losing to top-four rival Melbourne at home at Adelaide Oval in round 17, an opponent eyeing a return to the top eight and the need to prove its "squad mentality" will hold up when tested to the limit.

Hinkley can admire the response - and (if any AFL coach can grant himself such a luxury) he should look forward to a week when his ears will burn less. This 13-point win puts into detail his "Port Adelaide way" with a blue-collar performance built on a strong focus to work harder, a resilient attitude to avoid any distractions and a squad rewarded for its belief, ambition ... and getting exactly what it deserves.

The pages of hard-earned wins that define the Port Adelaide Football Club gain another memorable victory. By a symbolic 13 points.