The 14.17 (101) to 12.12 (84) result before 31,174 fans was achieved without Josh Fraser who was a late withdrawal with a virus, while a host of players went down in battle.
In his second senior match, Cameron Cloke was crunched in a sickening collision with teammate Simon Prestigiacomo who later suffered a shin injury, while Scott Burns did a hamstring and Ben Johnson also took a heavy knock.
The Power didn’t escape unscathed with Josh Carr helped off the field with a broken jaw after attempting to tackle Paul Licuria. He will have surgery on Monday and is expected to miss six matches.
Coach Mick Malthouse refused to blame the injuries on the day, or the absence of skipper Nathan Buckley and key forward Chris Tarrant, for the Magpies' defeat.
“The players you play with, they represent your club. You still go out there with 22 players. That 22 today and in the last three weeks just haven’t been good enough, so we’ll just keep working at it until we get the right structure," Malthouse said..
“Some players stepped up today, others need to do better. When we get them all playing good football, we’ll be a good football side.
“We’ve taken a big hit with our depth because we had players retire and go from the club, which left us with a position to either feel sorry for yourself or do something about it.
"We’ve opted for the latter. We want to make sure these young players coming through take their places, and they’re not playing as many games as those other blokes who left.
Malthouse stressed there were several positives to come out of the match with the return to form of several midfielders.
“Today we had some players who stood up who hadn’t been playing (well). I think someone mentioned about Licuria and O’Bree, and there are a couple of others.”
Shane O’Bree played a blinder for the Pies picking up 38 possessions while Mark McGough maintained his fine form with 33.
This was Collingwood’s fifth loss in six rounds but the tenacity they showed was encouraging.
Kicking with a handy breeze, Collingwood got away to a tremendous start, slamming on four goals to the hosts’ one in the opening term. But Port went in at half-time with a 14-point break after having by far the better of the second term.
Brodie Holland, Richard Cole and Shane Woewodin showed out in the third term as the Pies battled to keep in touch. Fraser’s replacement, Guy Richards battled one-out all day against Port’s Dean Brogan and Brendon Lade and will be tougher and wiser for the experience.
Port went into the last quarter with a 16-point lead and with the aid of a strong breeze, but a persistent Collingwood fought on magnificently to level the scores at the 18-minute mark.
Port was under severe pressure late in the game and managed to seal the result with goals from Jared Poulton and Brendon Lade.
Warren Tredrea (four goals) was a constant threat and target, and it wasn’t until Anthony Rocca (three) kicked two crucial goals in the last that Collingwood had a potent forward.
After the match, Malthouse noted that the Pies, who scored 8.9 against Richmond, 15.16 (Western Bulldogs), 12.5 (Bribane Lions), 7.12 (Fremantle) and 11.13 (Essendon), had struggled to kick big scores this season, and said that they should have done better than 12.12 against Port.
“We had 24 shots on goal, but we missed four or five we probably should have put away,” he said.
PORT ADELAIDE: 1.5, 7.7, 11.9, 14.17 (101)
COLLINGWOOD: 4.2, 5.5, 8.11, 12.12 (84)
GOALS: Port Adelaide: Tredrea 4, S. Burgoyne 3, Dew 2, Lade, Brogan, Poulton, Ebert, Surjan
Collingwood: Rocca 3, Didak 2, Davis, Holland, O’Bree, McGough, Lokan, King, J. Cloke
BEST: Port Adelaide: K. Cornes, C. Cornes, Tredrea, Bishop, P. Burgoyne, Schofield
Collingwood: O’Bree, Holland, Licuria, Rocca, Clement, Woewodin
INJURIES: Port Adelaide: Carr (jaw)
Collingwood: C. Cloke (concussion), Burns (hamstring), Prestigiacomo (shin), Johnson (concussion)
CHANGES: Collingwood: Shaw (virus) and Fraser (virus) replaced by Richards and Kinnear in the selected side.
REPORTS: Nil
UMPIRES: Allen, Avon, Jeffery
CROWD: 31,174 at AAMI Stadium
