1. Pressure back on as Pies' party is spoiled
This was a demolition from the arch-enemy the Collingwood faithful will find impossible to bear. That the Magpies' fifth loss for the season came on the day it chose to celebrate its 125th anniversary puts enormous pressure on the club and coach Nathan Buckley who is in the final year of his contract. It was more of the same for Magpie fans, with Collingwood's inability to score stemming from skill errors and poor decisions when entering its forward 50. The twin talls for Collingwood, Darcy Moore and Mason Cox, were ineffective with the Blues taking close to 20 intercept marks and Moore taking his first mark in the first minute of the last quarter, which led to his first kick. Alex Fasolo and then Jamie Elliott both missed set shots late just to ram home what has gone wrong at Collingwood in 2017.
2. Brendon Bolton teaching us he can coach
He might not give much away when the cameras are rolling but Bolton can clearly coach. He once again manufactured a game that limited Collingwood's run through the corridor, denying it opportunities to score. He backed in his tall defenders to mark high balls and he rotated the forwards so the Magpies could not create run out of defence or rebound the ball. Add in his five wins when he stood in to coach Hawthorn, he has 15 wins from 34 games and is building a team with the right mix of youth and experience to compete and get supporters excited. He has only won one fewer game than Buckley as coach since he took over the Blues at the start of 2016.
Casboult with the snap! #AFLPiesBlues pic.twitter.com/rz9nXAP3rG
— AFL (@AFL) May 6, 2017
3. Daisy puts a nail in the coffin
Having played VFL a week earlier and had his career questioned early in the season, Collingwood premiership player Dale Thomas was almost a forgotten man. His move to Carlton has already been filed away as a misstep. However, early in the final quarter with some hope remaining in Collingwood's hearts, Thomas grabbed the ball on the half-forward flank and took off. He ran bouncing the ball inside 50 and sold some candy before kicking a banana goal to stretch the lead to five majors and put the game out of the Magpies' reach.
A superb tackle by Alex Silvagni sees Jacob Weitering kick a goal in the dying stages of the first half. #AFLPiesBlues pic.twitter.com/ogemnxqaqw
— AFL (@AFL) May 6, 2017
4. Petrevski-Seton means class
The No.6 draft pick is held such high esteem at Carlton he played in round one, despite not playing in a JLT Community Series game. It's easy to see why. Petrevski-Seton kicked two first half-goals on Saturday including the opener at the 13-minute mark of the first quarter but it was his class that stood out. On one occasion during the second quarter he rode the boundary line before spearing a kick inside to hit Bryce Gibbs on the chest. It came at a time when Collingwood was stabilising. He had 10 disposals in the second quarter to take control and finished the game with 22 disposals and 10 contested possessions.
Bryce Gibbs breaks out of the contest and drills the ball home. #AFLPiesBlues pic.twitter.com/G6vo3fSoMF
— AFL (@AFL) May 6, 2017
5. Pies suffer from Wells' workload
Despite being out on the ground in his boots checking out conditions before the warm-up, Daniel Wells was a late withdrawal when the teams were lodged. The Magpies said it was a pre-determined move with the 32-year-old not able to come up for his third game in 12 days. His loss was huge however as the Magpies were already without Travis Varcoe's run out of defence. It made their ball movement in the first half stagnant and created uncertainty in the minds of the Magpie forwards.