St Kilda has moved back into the top eight with an unconvincing eight-point win over lowly Port Adelaide at Telstra Dome but will have to play a lot better than it did on Sunday to stay there.

The Saints' 14.17 (101) to 14.9 (93) victory over the 13th-placed Power saw them jump from ninth to seventh on the ladder - with Brisbane dropping out of the eight - and sets up a mouth-watering clash against eighth-placed Collingwood at the MCG next Saturday night in what will be a virtual mini elimination final.

But even though the Magpies have lost five of their past seven matches, they would still fancy themselves against St Kilda if the Saints again play the way they did on Sunday when only the last quarter heroics of best afield Jason Gram saved them from a costly defeat.

About the only thing an injury-stricken Port side - minus Warren Tredrea, Chad Cornes, Peter Burgoyne and Steven Salopek and with their finals hopes long since extinguished - had going for them going into this match was that they had beaten the Saints in 11 of their past 12 matches.

But when Port, which looked the better side throughout a close first half, shot 21 points clear in the third term - on the back of a purple patch from Justin Westhoff, who booted three goals for the term and set up another for Daniel Motlop - a massive upset looked on the cards.

Port - with their young midfielders such as Travis Boak and Paul Stewart providing great support to experienced duo Kane Cornes and Domenic Cassisi - were hardly playing like a team that had lost six of their past seven matches but failed to kill off the Saints.

A two-goal turnaround late in the third term - when Tom Logan first hit the post on the run and then James Gwilt goaled a minute later for the Saints - cut the margin to just 13 points at the last change and as St Kilda's two big guns in attack in Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke finally began escaping the close attention of Alipate Carlile and Toby Thurstans respectively, the Saints did just enough to get over the line.

But the injury came at a price with Luke Ball coming off the ground in the dying minutes after hurting his leg in a marking contest while Lenny Hayes - who was well beaten by Boak - was also battling hamstring soreness and veteran Robert Harvey was carried off in the third term after a crunching tackle by Jacob Surjan before bravely returning to the field in the final term.

ST KILDA: 4.1, 7.5, 9.10, 14.17 (101)
PORT ADELAIDE: 4.1, 8.3, 12.5, 14.9 (93)
GOALS: St Kilda: Riewoldt 3, Fiora 2, Gwilt 2, Gram 2, Harvey, Milne, Ball, Schneider, Koschitzke
Port: Westhoff 3, Motlop 2, Salter 2, Surjan, Rodan, Brogan, Bentley, Ebert, Boak, S Burgoyne
BEST: St Kilda: Gram, Goddard, Montagna, Dal Santo, Dempster, Fiora, Riewoldt, Ball
Port: Boak, Cassisi, Thurstans, K Cornes, Carlile, Stewart, Rodan, Westhoff
INJURIES: St Kilda: Ball (leg)
Port: Salter (concussion)
UMPIRES: Vozzo, Head, Keating
REPORTS: Nil
CHANGES: Nil
CROWD: 22,878 at Telstra Dome

Sportal AFL Player of the Year votes:
3: Jason Gram (St Kilda)
2: Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
1: Brendon Goddard (St Kilda)