AS ESSENDON discovered in the 1990 grand final — and will be reminded by Collingwood for ever more — someone eventually has to lose to the team that just cannot win. The scale is vastly different, of course, but the sense of shame the same.

That Carlton's longest drought in more than a century has been broken over Collingwood's back is galling enough for the Magpies, but the nature of yesterday's performance did nothing to stem the black and white blood flow. They were simply never in it.

Nine of their number failed to gather 10 touches for the day, a miserable lot that included Anthony Rocca, Leon Davis and Nathan Brown, who all started in the forward 50, as well as Nick Maxwell, whose afternoon began with a bump that made Marc Murphy briefly levitate, and may come back to haunt him.

Paul Medhurst managed the bare 10 possessions, blanketed by the impressive Michael Jamison, Dale Thomas only 11 and Shane O'Bree 13. Too much fell to too few, and they did too little with it; Dane Swan had 18 kicks, yet only five of them found their target.

This was a product of Carlton's near-total control over proceedings, which was never better illustrated than late in the third quarter, with the Magpies within four-goal nuisance territory and the opportunity there to get the jitters. Unlike riding a bike, you can forget how to win.

Ben Johnson had the ball at half-back for Collingwood, and there the Blues forced him to stay, covering every option — be they forward, lateral or the modern preference of in reverse — knowing Johnson is not blessed with a laser-like leg. And there the game paused, the seconds ticked away, the pressure valve released, and Johnson finally kicked long to Rocca, who was outnumbered, three on one.

For the best part of a calendar year, it has been the Blues who have been tentative with ball in hand, but yesterday they wrote the sheet music, building attacks with patient purpose, and crucially keeping possession while seeking a path to Brendan Fevola. And the enigmatic one did not let them down.

But as much as the long-silent roared the seven goals that flew sweetly from Fev's right boot, they were just as vocal in appreciation of a defence that performed like a sextet that whistles while it works every weekend, not one that hadn't known a good day at the office since last June 9.

Jamison, Jarrad Waite, Bret Thornton and Paul Bower toiled tirelessly for each other, turning back Collingwood's advances with a stoicism that only became more steel-plated as the game wore on.

On-ball, the tone was set by Bryce Gibbs, who gifted the Pies the opener after 90 seconds with a sloppy kick-out that was intercepted by Rocca, but by quarter-time had twice won free kicks for running down Danny Stanley, stopped Medhurst in his tracks on the 50, and hared through the middle to goal.

The Blues cleared out their 50 to isolate Fevola and Harry O'Brien, confident their man could win the one-out contests, and the early delivery to him, particularly from Murphy and even from Setanta O'hAilpin, was clinical. When Marty Clarke was pinged for deliberate and Eddie Betts goaled from so deep in the pocket he could smell the Bullring Bar, the Blues were flying.

As much as they dominated play, Collingwood kept them within scoreboard reach as if joined by string, and by midway through the third quarter, when Medhurst broke his duck with a goal from a 50-metre penalty for retardation — one that was at the least against the spirit of the game, and might have been downright wrong — the four-goal margin seemed more like a hair's breadth.

Two snappy Leon Davis goals hinted that closing might be a problem, but a 14-touch quarter from Chris Judd steadied pulses, and two contrasting pieces of Fevola magic sealed it.

Having slipped O'Brien in the evening sun for his sixth, and now with Brown for company, he turned his opponent on the Northern Stand boundary, didn't bother looking for inboard options, and speared a drop punt through off one step. Three minutes later, he put in the second and third efforts that are absent on his dark days, throwing himself into a pack and wrenching the ball free, dishing to Shaun Grigg, who grubbed through the sealer.

Rocca's only goal and a Thomas hanger were too little, too late for the Magpies, and the happy half of the biggest crowd of the season stood to clear their throats and sing a cathartic theme. As president Richard Pratt noted, after all the commiserations, it was nice to at last be part of a celebration.

CARLTON  6.0 10.2 12.6 17.9 (111)

COLLINGWOOD 3.4 6.6 7.9 13.10 (88)

GOALS Carlton: Fevola 7, Fisher 2, Gibbs, Simpson, Hadley, Grigg, O'hAilpin, Betts, Stevens, Pfeiffer. Collingwood: Davis 2, Thomas 2, Brown 2, Didak, Medhurst, Pendlebury, Clarke, Rocca, Cloke, Swan.

BEST Carlton: Waite, Murphy, Fevola, Jamison, Judd, Thornton, Gibbs, Bower. Collingwood: H.Shaw, Clarke, Didak, Lockyer, Pendlebury.

INJURIES Collingwood: Burns (calf) replaced in selected side by Stanley.

REPORTS Stevens (Carl) by field umpire Jeffery for allegedly striking Didak (Coll) in the third quarter.

UMPIRES McBurney, Sully, Jeffery.

CROWD 77,873 at the MCG.

THE UPSHOT No more talk about losing streaks at Carlton after it saved itself from breaking a record of the worst kind.

TALKING POINT Why, when Nathan Brown was the Pies' in-form defender, was he not on in-form Brendan Fevola until midway though the final term.

HOT AND COLD Carlton's defence is its most glaring Achilles heel and it was at its jittery best early. But by the end of the match the back six looked as composed as they have in recent memory.