The black and white army came expecting a cakewalk, yet it was anything but for Collingwood.
It took until midway through the final quarter for the overwhelming majority of the partisan crowd of 38,126 to be certain they would be singing the song after the final siren.
Craig McRae’s men took another step to securing a top-two finish but there was little else for the Magpies to get carried away with after their 29-point win – 13.10 (88) to 8.11 (59) – over the bottom-placed West Coast at Marvel Stadium.
The Pies get around debutant Charlie West as they sing the song after a hard-earned win.Credit: Getty Images
“We come here for four points, we didn’t come here for style points,” McRae said.
“We got the job done but we’ve got work to do.”
The Eagles were undaunted and played with dare, perhaps providing rival coaches another clue as to how to beat the flag favourites, but the Pies won because they were smarter when it mattered and took their chances.
With wins on the board, Collingwood have the luxury of taking half an eye off the here and now to plan for the medium-term, not that the coach would admit to that.
Barring a disastrous injury list, there is little chance they will field a forward line with the quartet of talls in Dan McStay, Tim Membrey, Brody Mihocek and Charlie West in September.
But West deserved a debut after sustained strong form in the VFL and it’s better to give him an appetiser in a game they are expected to win in June than a winner-takes-all game in September.
The pressure provided by the injured Beau McCreery, Lachie Schultz, and Bobby Hill – a late withdrawal due to personal reasons – was missing for significant stretches. It was a factor.
West booted a goal with his first kick but did little else, though the experience will hold him in good stead.
“Not sure,” McRae said when asked if he would persist with four tall forwards.
“We thought there was an opportunity to reward behaviour, in particular Charlie West.”
Collingwood’s game was clunky. Seldom were they able to generate the breathtaking run and carry from defence that has been a feature of their play under McRae.
Part of this was due to the Eagles’ pressure, a much-improved facet of their game, but the Pies did not help themselves by not taking territory when it presented.
“Clearly, they owned the corridor at times,” McRae said. “It wasn’t taken away from us, I just didn’t think we used the ball that well. We had a lot more turnovers in this game than we have throughout the year.”
When the Eagles were at their best, in the second and third terms when they responded after four-goal runs, it was the run and bounce they generated off half-back that made them dangerous.
“I just think we were trying to be too cute for a lot of the game,” Pies ruckman Darcy Cameron said.
Liam Baker was among the Eagles’ best.Credit: AFL Photos
“We had so many opportunities to give our forwards a chance one-on-one, and we gave that one extra handball and messed around with it a bit too much. They brought the pressure, we invited it in a sense. We didn’t help ourselves.”
The Magpies did not pay the price against the bottom team, but better teams will punish them if they reproduce a similar effort.
Nick Daicos enjoyed the luxury of playing without a close tag, amassing 34 disposals, though he was not dominant.
He will face a challenge for the three votes on Brownlow night from Scott Pendlebury and Liam Baker. Pendlebury, with nine clearances among his 28 possessions, was pivotal to the Pies’ charge with his deft work in close and his pressure.
Jeremy Howe was rock-solid in a miserly defence that absorbed more traffic than expected.
The Eagles had their chances to put the Pies under supreme pressure but a goal conceded seconds before the three-quarter time siren by Jack Williams to Dan Houston, and one missed from 30 metres out directly in front early in the last quarter by the same player, cruelled them.
