Collingwood have claimed their sixth straight win to boost their hopes of an automatic finals berth, putting the Crows to the sword at Adelaide Oval in an important 16.12 (108) to 11.8 (74) win.
The Crows fired into a strong lead either side of quarter-time before the Magpies slowly chipped away, taking the lead midway through the third term and running away with it in the fourth.
“It’s not just a scalp, it’s a scalp with four exclamation points,” Hamish McLachlan said on Channel 7.
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The only negative was a leg injury to Brayden Maynard after he failed to see out the final quarter.
Nick Daicos led the way with 39 disposals and a big major early in the last to finish as one of the 13 Magpies goalkickers, with 200-gamer Jordan De Goey among them.
Dan McStay kicked two extraordinary goals — including what proved to be a crucial goal with just 14 seconds left before half-time.
Kane Cornes said Collingwood are now “in a very good position to scare the life out of a number of the contenders” — but it’s a different story for Adelaide.
“It’s a soul-crushing loss for them,” Cornes said.
“The problem is the way they play and their game style is hard to maintain for a full hard season of football.
“That high intensity, high pressure — there has to be an easier one to win at times and they don’t have it. Unfortunately they are reliant on a couple of stars, but high pressure, high tackle is hard to sustain for a full season.”
The Crows were hurt by Darcy Fogarty’s suspension and Mark Keane’s withdrawal due to illness but there were still no excuses.
“We just couldn’t slow them down,” said Taylor Walker, who kicked his 700th AFL goal in the first quarter.
More to come…
