THERE were seven and a bit minutes left in the second quarter of last night's match between the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide. Fabian Deluca, playing his seventh game and his first for the season, was lining up for goal from the Power's forward pocket. He took a slight step to his right, played on and narrowly missed the shot.

Less than half a minute later, the ball was at the other end of the oval. Jason Akermanis and Shaun Burgoyne were the only players running deep in the Bulldogs' forward line and so Brad Johnson, kicking from the 50-metre line, popped the ball into his teammate's path.

The ball landed at Akermanis' toes and he paddled it around in front of him as Burgoyne sat at his back. Akermanis realised he had neither time nor the space to pick it up, so instead poked his foot at it and soccered through his side's seventh goal.

They were moments that summed up what the Bulldogs had and that the Power didn't — some strength, some experience, some nous, and, most of all, more skill and purpose. Inside another minute, Ryan Griffen had scored his second long, running goal and Farren Ray had snapped truly from the pocket.

Leading by two goals when Akermanis scored, the Bulldogs finished the first half 45 points in front, comfortably clear, and with no intention of stopping.

The last piece of play for the half happened again at Port Adelaide's end, Daniel Motlop hovering with the ball at half-forward, not knowing what to do with it.

With two seconds left, Dale Morris, only recently back on the ground after wrenching his knee earlier in the term, lunged at the Power forward and wrestled him to the ground, the Bulldogs finishing the half more desperate and decisive than their uncertain opponents.

The Bulldogs were expected to win this match, and expected to win it, and it really only took the first quarter for them to find their way through and around the Power side.

Early on, the ground was clogged up and there wasn't much room to move, a Nathan Eagleton dash down the wing, a few Adam Cooney surges and some good body work by both Scott Welsh and Johnson the first sign that the Bulldogs could still do some good work in tight spaces.

They had the most early trouble from David Rodan, who after starting in the centre square seemed able to shake whoever was on him and get to where the ball was, while Kane Cornes, who had flown to Darwin late after his wife had their second child, was also busy in the middle.

Port Adelaide got plenty of the ball, right to the end, but was a much more confused side than the Bulldogs, and didn't take advantage of enough early chances to maintain some pressure.

Even before the Deluca shot, the otherwise lively Robbie Gray and Brett Ebert missed early first-quarter shots, Grey spraying another at the start of the second term that would have levelled the scores.

The Power's problems down there were not only of their own doing. Both Ryan Hargrave and Brian Lake did some steady things for the Bulldogs in defence, but they got properly up and going once Griffen wound up in the middle.

Dylan Addison was two things — hard to get past and absolutely intent on forcing the ball forward — while Cooney subtly forced his way into the game as well.

Port Adelaide wasn't terrible, for most of the match at least. Justin Westhoff, one of seven changes to the Power's dramatically recast side, got to some good spots in the first half and kicked two goals, but wasn't a constant presence like Johnson, Scott Welsh and even Robert Murphy were.

It didn't score a goal through Warren Tredrea until the final quarter, and Ebert was an unreliable target, too.

Either that, or the midfielders' ball movement was too unreliable for the forwards to actually be decent targets.

Either way, it meant that while the Power onball brigade matched the Bulldogs on the possession count, it was far less organised and too unpredictable for each other as it moved forward.

Port hung in at the start of the third term, Gray and Brogan scoring early to match Josh Hill's high mark and Mitch Hahn's set shot.

Two mid-term goals to Lonie and Gray, who cleverly marked and played on, almost in the one movement, from the goal line, brought the Power back to within five goals, but that was as good as it got.

Daniel Giansiracusa, whose influence, like Hahn, Daniel Cross and Matthew Boyd, steadily rose, scored his first goal with 19 seconds left in the quarter and then Aka did a little more heartbreaking, as the Bulldogs began turning a 44-point lead at three-quarter-time into a four-goal final term and a 54-point win. With two seconds left in the third term, Akermanis snatched up the ball 30 metres out and slung a flying snap towards goal, watching it fly though as the siren sounded and he fell forward.

Then, with the final quarter only just started, he pushed the ball out of the centre square, grabbed it and launched a second shot from the 50-metre line, stumbling again as he kicked and looking up to see that shot sail through, too.

WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.4 11.9 16.12 20.15 (135)
PORT ADELAIDE 2.2 4.6 9.10 11.15 (81)

GOALS Western Bulldogs: Akermanis 4, Johnson 3, Welsh 3, Hill 2, Griffen 2, Boyd, Eagleton, Ray, Giansiracusa, Gilbee, Hahn. Port Adelaide: Tredrea 2, J Westhoff 2, Gray 2, Rodan, Lonie, Thomson, Pettigrew, Brogan.

BEST Western Bulldogs: Griffen, Akermanis, Addison, Hargrave, Johnson, Morris, Eagleton. Port Adelaide: K Cornes, Rodan, Grey, Cassisi, Thomson.

INJURIES Western Bulldogs: Griffen (dislocated finger), Welsh (dislocated finger).

UMPIRES Ellis, Schmidt, Ryan.

CROWD 11,373 at TIO Stadium, Darwin.

THE UPSHOT The Western Bulldogs are in great shape heading into the break, top of the ladder before Geelong plays Adelaide on Friday night at AAMI Stadium. Port Adelaide continues to slide in a dismal follow-up to its grand final season in 2007.

TALKING POINT The Jason Akermanis handstand is back. Aka had been asked to shelve his trademark celebration by teammates, but obviously thought last night's win meant it was time for him to make a stand.

HOT AND COLD Temperatures in the 20s may not be typical football weather for a late-June night game, but the Bulldogs had little trouble running out the game.