AFL round 6 Brisbane Lions v Collingwood: All the news, fallout and analysis from the Magpies’ 52-point win
It’s official. The Pies are back as true premiership contenders. It starts with Nick Daicos, but there’s one new wrinkle to the 2023 flag winners, one that will scare the rest of the league.
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Attention rest of the AFL.
Collingwood is back.
A 52-point Easter Thursday demolition job of the unbeaten reigning premiers was just the type of statement performance Craig McRae’s side had been waiting to serve up.
In consecutive weeks the Magpies have thrashed last year’s grand finalists by a combined 83 points to announce themselves as a genuine contender in 2025.
They might be the oldest list in the competition but on Thursday night at the Gabba, McRae’s men ran the legs off the Brisbane Lions.
And at the heart of it all, to the surprise of nobody, was Nick Daicos.
With 21 disposals and four clearances to halftime, the superstar forced Chris Fagan’s hand and Jarrod Berry was sent to quell his influence.
The result? Seven touches, two clearances and a goal in a match-defining third quarter that snuffed out any hope the competition’s newest “comeback kings” had of repeating the dose of a week earlier.
To the handful of critics who continue to question Daicos’ contested work, rewind the tape to the second quarter when he was cleaned up by a charging Cam Rayner off the back of the square.
Eyes drifted from a dazed Daicos on the deck to the ball in contest – only for the superstar to reappear in the blink of an eye, taking a handball receive and setting up another foray forward.
His spread from contest killed the Lions. It was on his shoulders that the Magpies planted their flag in the ground in the first half. But the best was yet to come.
Brisbane’s blueprint of second-half comebacks had been built on third term dominance but the Magpies reigned supreme in the premiership quarter.
Four goals to one. Fourteen inside 50s to seven. Twelve clearances to four. Game, set, match.
This was as complete a performance from an away side at the Gabba as we have seen for some time.
The competition’s standout clearance team was bested by the Magpies’ engine room with the evergreen Scott Pendlebury (21 disposals, five clearances) combining with Daicos (38 disposals, eight clearances) to dice the Lions up in the middle.
But the blueprint for the 2025 Magpies is defence.
Entering Thursday night’s clash, Collingwood had conceded the second-fewest points through its first five games of a season in more than 50 years.
Since giving up 104 points to GWS in Opening Round, the Magpies have conceded scores of just 45, 70, 46, 78 and 53.
Against the No. 1 turnover team of 2024 – both offensively and defensively – Collingwood kept the Lions quiet in transition.
Too often a Dayne Zorko or Ryan Lester would look up from defensive 50 and have no clear option forward. Collingwood’s web wound so tight the Lions could manage just 37 inside 50s for the match.
Their average for the season before Thursday night was 58.6.
The only sour note on a night of celebration, in which Jamie Elliot kicked 2.3 in his 200th game, was the late exit of the in-form Darcy Moore.
The Magpies skipper copped friendly fire from Jeremy Howe’s knee late in the final quarter and was subsequently subbed out of the contest, putting him in doubt for next Friday’s Anzac Day blockbuster against the Bombers.
If he does miss, it will leave a big hole in a burgeoning defensive system that is bordering on the best in the business after suffocating the high-powered Brisbane attack.
As for the Lions, the eye test to this point had told us they were not yet at their brilliant best.
This result proved it to be true.
It will serve as the ammunition Fagan needs to remind his men there is much more to be done if they are to salute again this season.
Like the coach has said all week, the second-half comebacks were not sustainable.
Originally published as AFL round 6 Brisbane Lions v Collingwood: All the news, fallout and analysis from the Magpies’ 52-point win
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