WEST COAST 5.2 9.4 12.7 14.10 (94)
PORT ADELAIDEÂ 3.1 5.3 9.6 13.8 (86)
Goals – West Coast: Kennedy 7, Lycett, Cripps 2,Shoey, Yeo, Hill. Port Adelaide: Young 4, Wingard 3, Dixon 2, Westhoff, Ebert, Hartlett, Polec.
Best -Â West Coast: Kennedy, Naitanui, Priddis, Wellingham, Lycett, McGovern. Port Adelaide:Â R. Gray, Dixon, Young, Wingard, Boak, Ebert.
Umpires:Â B. Rosebury, S. McInerney, B. Wallace.
Official Crowd:Â 38,695 at Adelaide Oval.
It turned ugly at Adelaide Oval last night as the West Coast Eagles held serious concern for the welfare of Andrew Gaff after being struck to the side of his head with an elbow by Port Adelaide's Tom Jonas midway through the third quarter.
Gaff appeared to be knocked out before he crashed to the ground, sparking a near all-in brawl. Adding to the match drama, Port's star midfielder Robbie Gray was reported for allegedly tripping the Eagles' Mark LeCras early in the last quarter.
The Eagles won by eight points, aided by seven goals from Josh Kennedy, who wasn't going to play because of the pending birth of his first child with his partner Lauren, but all the great moments and heroics and twists faded with the sickening blow to Gaff.
Port seemed to rise from events that will keep the AFL tribunal busy, but the Eagles also bravely stood their ground – but only just – in front of a hostile crowd as Port staged an admirable comeback.
Down 37 points at the 11 minute mark when Kennedy kicked his seventh goal, the Power, inspired by Chad Wingard, who suddenly rediscovered his form, got within 14 points with six minutes remaining.
Given the immense importance of this game to both sides, it was the Eagles' longest six minutes this season – and possibly their finest.
Kennedy left his partner Lauren literally holding the baby in Perth, but picked up his bag of goals to set up this crucial win.
 The Eagles had not won their previous past six matches on the road across four states. With their next interstate game against the West Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium in two weeks, and the urgent need to fix their travelling woes, the importance of this win cannot be under-estimated.
By their own admission the 2015 grand finalists have not been playing at their best, but are now at 6-3 things and will next play with the struggling Gold Coast Suns at home.
Pre-match,  an Indigenous youth group singing the Port club song in their native tongue – an AFL first, and part of Port's Indigenous tribute – but for most part the class was left there.
Now 4-5, and facing a challenging run against Melbourne in Alice Springs, Collingwood (MCG) and Western Bulldogs (Adelaide), the Power players are under even more pressure to sing the song themselves.
No one should question Port's endeavour, and unlike most weeks this season, they dared to try and run through the crowded backlines and set up quality link play. But while they looked great at times, too often they let themselves down badly with errors under pressure.
Basically, Port lost because they could not reward themselves for their effort. They switched the play better and overall their decision-making was good; the skills simply weren't always there to match.
West Coast wasn't always clean with their disposals either, but they had enough quality ball carriers to make something happen. Their midfielders including Matt Priddis and Luke Shuey were very good, just as Port had valuable contributors in this area led by Robbie Gray.
But the difference was with the hit-outs – 71-15 in the Eagles' favour with Nic Naitanui racking up 48 plus 13 disposals, and Scott Lycett 23 and also 13 disposals.
Charlie Dixon worked hard for Port, and stood even taller under the pressure. His strong marking and brutal but fair tackling was terrific, but he didn't have enough teammates who could finish off his excellent effort. Aaron Young was also very good, while Travis Boak regained some form.
But all the great things about this game were overshadowed by the ugly incidents and mistakes.