Last season's mark of the year winner hauled down an early contender for this year's gong in the Pies' 11-point loss to Geelong at the MCG on Saturday night.
With the Pies yet to register a goal five minutes in to the second term, Elliott followed the high ball's arc and leaped sideways onto Cat Jimmy Bartel's shoulders, hanging on to a speccy that ranks among his very best.
"There was no-one else there to jump at it, so I thought, 'Why not have a crack at it?' and fortunately it stuck," Elliott told AFL.com.au.
"Once a week at training I like to have a jump at them, just for fun, but I don't go out there intending to look for it anymore … I might have a couple of games last year after I took a couple.
"But if it's there I'm going to have a crack."
While Magpie fans enjoyed the 178cm pocket dynamo's mark and goal from 20m out, what mattered more was how it fired-up his team.
The Pies booted five more goals for the term – including another to Elliott, who finished with 5.0, and a couple to recruit Jesse White – as they clawed back a 19-point quarter-time deficit.
"Credit to the boys, they started to lift after that," Elliott said.
"We hit the scoreboard and it just got the boys going.
"We just controlled it a lot better, we didn't rush ourselves, we looked for the best option and we hit our kicks going forward."
Elliott's grab will be shown endlessly on the highlights reel, but his all-round performance deserves equal praise.
The 21 year old was one of the Pies' best with 15 disposals and nine marks to go with his bag of majors. He kicked all three for Collingwood in the final term to keep the Pies in it.
"I'm surprised I even kicked them, because I was so buggered," Elliott said, before adding he didn't think the interchange cap was to blame.
"I think the way the game's played – it was so quick – and the distances players run, it's going to wreck you anyway."
Up and at 'em: Elliott and Brodie Grundy (l) celebrate a goal against the Sydney Swans in round two. Picture: AFL Media
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley wouldn't have been surprised the livewire forward was exhausted. Elliott's four-quarter effort set a standard, Buckley said.
"Jamie's work rate was excellent. He kept putting himself in the spots, took his chances, won his one-on-ones when the time was there.
The rest of our forward line could learn a little bit from that.
"He's a dangerous matchup, he's hard to stop."
Elliott is, in part, reaping the rewards of a massive pre-season. He booted one goal against Fremantle in round one before slotting three against the Sydney Swans and going two better again against Geelong.
"Probably by his own admission started slowly in the first couple of weeks, but he really showed what he was capable of tonight," Magpie veteran Luke Ball told AFL.com.au after Saturday night's match.
"He probably picked up the slack from the other forwards, so it was a terrific effort by him. He almost played a lone hand in the forward line. We've got to work on spreading the load a bit more."
The Pies' 11 goals against Geelong came from only six goal-kickers, with key forward Travis Cloke held goalless by a superb Tom Lonergan.
Finding more avenues in attack, and starting games better – the Pies have only kicked three first-quarter goals this season – will be crucial when Collingwood faces Richmond on Friday night. It's a match that could have huge implications on both teams' seasons given their shared 1-2 win-loss records.
"We need to not let them score so heavily in the first quarter and we've got to hit the scoreboard as well, so we've got scoreboard pressure," Elliot said.
"It's a big opportunity for us, so hopefully we can bounce back and get the win."
Twitter: @TravKing_AFL
