Back in round three, Carlton's thumping of Collingwood led to shrill cries that Nathan Buckley's game plan didn't work, the senior players weren't on board and the Magpies were in crisis. Some crisis. Four weeks' later and Collingwood has still lost just two games and is just one win away from top spot. Against the Lions, the team showed hitherto unseen intensity and precision - a sure sign the Magpies are building and perhaps an admission that it is not how you start the season that counts, it's how you finish.
2. Quality finding out the Lions
Against Essendon and Geelong, the Lions were out of the contest early, struggling for intensity and faltering under pressure. The trend continued against the Pies, who dominated early and carried a match-winning 27-point margin into quarter time. Despite patches later in the game, the Lions clearly struggle to produce their best against the best - a real worry for Michael Voss, whose ambitions to return to finals can't be realised until his team become better equipped to duke it out with the competition heavyweights.
3. How to shake a tag 101
Andrew Raines did well early on smooth-moving Magpie Scott Pendlebury but when the move to the increasingly dominant Dane Swan came in the third quarter, coach Nathan Buckley played his ace. He sent Swan forward. The result was three shots on goal in three minutes and Raines was forced to carry himself back to Pendlebury. Kudos too to Steele Sidebottom, whose stellar work in the midfield gave Buckley the luxury of pulling such a move.
4. Cloke blanketed
Travis Cloke looked to have put talk about his contract distractions behind him after kicking the game's opening goal in the very first minute of play. But despite his team's dominance, Cloke struggled for impact for the rest of the match. With the returning Alan Didak still looking rusty, and Geelong and Adelaide waiting in the next fortnight, the Pies will be hoping Cloke resolves whatever issues are floating around his head and gets back in goalscoring mode.
5. Not time for defence to rest
If premierships are built on defence, Collingwood has a worry. If, as expected, Nathan Brown is down for an extended period of time, the Magpies' back half is beginning to look dangerously thin. Ben Reid is back but without Brown and Chris Tarrant, Collingwood will have its work cut out stopping the more potent forward lines in the competition. First assignment will be Hawkins, Johnson, Podsiadly and co. next Friday night.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
