The Magpies took control in the second half, kicking seven goals to two, to win the round 20 clash 16.10 (106) to 10.15 (75).
A Leon Davis special early in the last quarter more or less snuffed out the match as a contest, and capped off a wonderful match for the Magpie midfielder who finished with 28 disposals in one of his best matches for the club.
Travis Cloke (four goals) and the first career goal to John McCarthy rounded out the match for the Pies who can now look toward September with some kind of certainty.
For the home team, Shaun Burgoyne was inspirational, picking up 33 touches in a best on ground performance that will certainly rank among his best for the season.
Collingwood found it hard to break away from a dogged, if diminished, Port Adelaide outfit throughout the first half but a four goal to two third quarter gave the Magpies a handy buffer at three-quarter time.
Not that Mick Malthouse would have been glowing at the last break because his team's good work -- of which they had been plenty in the third term, especially from Dane Swan who contributed two goals for the quarter -- was almost undone by a poor finish which gifted a goal to Kane Cornes and had the Power within striking distance at just 14 points adrift.
The late goal was the continuation of a theme laid out in the first half, when Port Adelaide's efforts in red time kept it in the chase. In both the first and second quarters, Collingwood skipped out to three goal leads and appeared destined to put a gap in its undermanned opponents. But each time a Power surge late in time-on saw it bridge the gap to almost a single straight kick at each of the breaks.
The Power could largely thank Burgoyne who won the ball from the stoppages time and time again, and brought his teammates into a contest that the Pies seemed to have under their control.
The match begun brightly enough for Port Adelaide, with Domenic Cassisi opening the scoring. But the Pies, through Cloke and Josh Fraser, worked their way into the match before an opportunistic snap from Brett Ebert brought the Power back within two points.
It was then that Collingwood skipped away. Majors to Marty Clarke, Dale Thomas and another to Cloke had the match running to the pre-game script but late goals to Jacob Surjan and Toby Thurstans cut the lead to just five points at the first break.
The pattern was repeated in the second quarter. Again the Power opened the scoring - this time to Ebert -- and again Collingwood stringed together a series of goals to establish a seemingly commanding lead.
But against the Power came alive in red time with goals to Robbie Gray and a second to Thurstans, the men who had earlier replaced Daniel Motlop and Dean Brogan in Port Adelaide's side.
When Gray laid one on for Matthew Westhoff, Port Adelaide had clawed back to be within one straight kick at half time.
In the end, the Pies were too strong in the second half but had to do it without the services of Dale Thomas for the majority of the time.
Thomas left the field early in the third quarter and went straight to the rooms for treatment on a leg injury. Thomas did return later with his knee heavily strapped but his fitness will obviously be monitored closely in the lead-up to the Magpies massive encounter with the Swans next week.
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Ebert, Thurstans 2, Surjan, Pearce, M Westhoff, Gray, Cassisi, K Cornes
Collingwood: Cloke 4, Swan 3, Anthony 2, Fraser, Thomas, Clarke, Maxwell, Cook, Davis, McCarthy.
BEST
Port Adelaide: S Burgoyne, Cassisi, Lade, Surjan, Boak, Gray
Collingwood: Davis, Swan, Cloke, Maxwell, Clarke, Lockyer, O’Bree
INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Motlop (adductor) replaced in selected side by Gray, Brogan (shoulder) replaced in selected side by Thurstans.
Collingwood: Anthony (shoulder/head), Thomas (left knee) -- both returned
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Stevic, McLaren, Wenn
Official crowd: 23,694 at AAMI Stadium
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
