PORT Melbourne had to call on all its premiership-winning experience to outlast Darebin by eight points and break a three-match rebel VFLW losing run at Genis Steel Oval on Saturday.

The Borough went in as strong favourites but were jumped by a desperate and committed Falcons outfit who kept them scoreless in the opening quarter and perhaps could have scored more than their own 1.1.

The battle continued in the second quarter with Port matching the opening quarter efforts of the home team to square the scores at half-time and then took a six-point lead to the final break when Emily Harley used her strength to kick the only goal of the third term.

Despite losing captain Steph Simpson to injury in the second quarter, the Falcons threw everything at the Borough in the last term, but Harley sealed the win with her second goal in the 17th minute before Monique De Matteo completed her own brace in the final minute.

In a brutal battle that saw Darebin win the tackle count 96-95, it was Ava Seton who got through the most work for Port Melbourne, winning a game-high 19 disposals while also topping the tackle count with 15.

The rucks also shared a terrific contest with Beth Wilson (10 disposals, 36 hitouts, five inside 50s) and Bella Clarke (15 disposals, five tackles, 11 hitouts) taking the points over Shannon Egan (39 hitouts) and Simone Ruedin (nine hitouts).

Maggie McKellar took some important intercept marks for Port Melbourne and Lily Hart, Laura McClelland, Issy Hartog and Georgia Booth provided strong run.

Ange Gogos (17 disposals, eight clearances, 10 tackles) was again tireless for Darebin, with Alyssa Mifsud (17 disposals, seven clearances) using her size to advantage, Emily Rayment doing some nice things off half-back and De Matteo kicking both goals for the second week in a row.

DAREBIN FALCONS 1.1        1.1        1.3        2.3 (15)
PORT MELBOURNE  0.0        1.1        2.3        3.5 (23)