Collingwood thrashes Brisbane by 49 points

A WOEFUL Brisbane was turned into Collingwood roadkill as the Magpies overcame a tumultuous week to thrash the Lions by 49 points at the Gabba.

A WOEFUL Brisbane was turned into Collingwood roadkill as the Magpies overcame a tumultuous week to thrash the Lions by 49 points at the Gabba last night.

Collingwood had been at the centre of a racial vilification storm for seven days but the controversy of the past week was put aside for a four-quarter demolition of the undermanned home side.

High drama also swirled around the Gabba before the first bounce with Magpies spearhead Travis Cloke a late withdrawal due to illness and a Lions volunteer trainer suffering a heart attack during Brisbane's warm-up.

A Collingwood supporter raised the alarm about the trainer who regained consciousness before he left the ground on a medi-cab.

He sent a text message to fellow Lions volunteers at halftime to say he was okay.

SuperCoach scores, stats

But the uncompetitive Brisbane was well and truly out of the contest by the main break.

With no Jonathan Brown (suspension), no Daniel Merrett (suspension), no Tom Rockliff (injured), no Matthew Leuenberger (injured) and no Daniel Rich (injured), the Lions were without five of their best six players.

Harry O'brien

They were no chance of upsetting the Pies by quarter-time as the visitors romped to a 26-point buffer thanks to their vast superiority in clearances (15-3), inside 50s (21-6), contested possessions (38-23) and total possessions (113-59).

Collingwood extended its considerable advantage to 45 points by halftime after what amounted to little more than a training drill in the second term in front of Brisbane's season-high crowd of 26,626.

In his 318th senior appearance to equal the Brisbane games record of Marcus Ashcroft, Simon Black was head and shoulders above his teammates who should be ashamed that a 34-year-old in the final year of his glittering career is clearly still the money man.

He finished with 32 disposals.

It was the 58th time Black has had more than 30 touches in a match since his senior debut in 1998.

It was Michael Voss' 100th senior game as coach of Brisbane last night and the 61st defeat will be a bitter pill to swallow given the Pies were also missing a host of key players and still performed admirably despite a horrid build-up.

The Lions showed some fight in the third quarter but Collingwood still managed to extend its lead to 50 by the last change as Brisbane suffered another embarrassment on national television.

Carlton thrashed Brisbane by 91 points in Round 2 last year in the club's last primetime appearance but a team used to the bright lights of Friday night had no such worries.

Dane Swan was outstanding with 36 disposals and two goals while Scott Pendlebury (28 disposals) and Steele Sidebottom (31 disposals) were also brilliant for the Pies.

Heath Shaw

Paul Seedsman had his best games a Magpie with 28 touches.

Ben Reid kicked a game-high three goals as a makeshift forward in the absence of Cloke.

Jamie Elliott, Kyle Martin and Ben Kennedy kicked two goals apiece for the rampant Pies.

Veteran ruckman Darren Jolly taught Billy Longer a lesson in the middle with 40 hitouts.

Brent Macaffer completely shutdown the dangerous Pearce Hanley who had just 11 touches.

Brisbane coach Michael Voss said the club's "non-negotiable" had been breached so the players were "fair game" in the long and tense post-match meeting.

"You can't compromise those, you can't do that," he said.

"It was unacceptable.

"There's a responsibility to be able to win the ball... collectively as a midfield mix, they have to be accountable. It wasn't good enough.

"We are falling short of the mark in terms of pressure."