COLLINGWOOD and West Coast had wins last week that flattered their seasons. Collingwood thrashed premier Geelong by 86 points. West Coast surprised Adelaide to win its first game since round one by 50.

It quickly became apparent at the MCG yesterday that it was the Eagles who had flattered to deceive. And it became more glaringly obvious the longer the game went.

Helped by a series of howlers from experienced players who should know better, Collingwood led by 25 points at quarter-time. That had grown to 32 at half-time after the Magpies held the edge in the only quarter of the game that was competitive.

It had blown out to 68 after a seven-goals-to-one third term and was an even 100 at the final siren.

From the first bounce, Collingwood attacked the Eagles with the same intensity it had brought to bear on Geelong eight days earlier. Given Mick Malthouse's history of coaching West Coast to two flags in the 1990s, the Eagles' 2006 premiership under John Worsfold and the Magpies' great rivalry with the team from the West, this was no great surprise.

Looking distinctly uneasy playing deep in defence, Andrew Embley was too easily bustled out of position as Scott Pendlebury marked and kicked the first goal of the game.

Dean Cox and Quinten Lynch then missed from long range as the Eagles missed two chances to level the scores before Embley was again the fall guy, this time an ill-advised and poorly weighted pass across goal that led to Paul Medhurst stealing the ball and scoring Collingwood's second.

Then Alan Didak showed the value of just keeping the ball moving forward when he somehow got his foot to the ball under heavy duress and it ended in a Leon Davis goal. Finally, Marty Clarke chased down and dispossessed Daniel Kerr and the ball went forward, where Dane Swan kicked the Pies' fifth.

The second quarter looked to be heading the same way when Shane O'Bree and Travis Cloke got the first two goals to push the lead out to 37 points. But then the Eagles produced their best period. With Cox, Kerr and Lynch all finding the ball, they added six goals to five for the remainder of the term, twice reducing the gap to 24 points.

Even amidst that, Tyson Stenglein gifted Didak a goal when his ineffectual slap at a goal-square loose ball left the Magpie a free path to goal. And Dale Thomas closed the scoring for the first half by taking a handball to the defensive side of the centre circle, accelerating away with four bounces and slamming Collingwood's 12 goal home.

Thomas opened the second half with a goal accompanied by a generous slice of luck, his shot from 40 metres either wobbling after brushing the goal post or getting the wobbles after it had just brushed the post. In either case, the rest of the half rendered any debate academic. Collingwood added 14 more goals to the Eagles' miserable three on the way to its greatest winning margin over West Coast.

All this was achieved despite the Eagles having the dominant ruckman on the ground — Cox had 15 kicks, 15 handballs and 36 hitouts — and breaking even in the clearances. In anything other than a 100-point loss, the ruckman would have been best afield. But he had too few winning mates. The Eagles could point to solid efforts by Kerr, Matt Priddis and several others, and continued promise from youngsters in Beau Wilkes, who had a good battle with Cloke, and Josh Kennedy, who presented at centre half-forward, but little else.

Cloke was again an effective and hard-running forward target, taking five contested marks among his seven and kicking three goals. And the small Pies were as impressive as they were numerous. Medhurst's tally of five goals was flattered a little, but only a little, by getting four of them in the final quarter; Davis again stood out as a midfield/forward; Didak pushed deeper into defence than usual but still finished with three goals and almost 30 disposals. Pendlebury, Scott Burns and Shane O'Bree provided plenty of grunt and Clarke, Harry O'Brien and Ben Johnson ran hard around and out of defence.

With games against Melbourne and Carlton coming up before their next big test in round 13 against the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood has a real chance to push towards a spot in the top four.


COLLINGWOOD 5.5 12.8 19.10 27.11 (173)
WEST COAST 1.4 7.6 8.8 10.13 (73)
GOALS: Collingwood: Medhurst 5, Davis 3, Didak 3, Thomas 3, Cloke 3, Pendlebury 2, Swan 2, Maxwell, O'Bree, Cox, R Shaw, Lockyer, Fraser. West Coast: Lynch 3, Cox 2, Kerr, Waters, Kennedy, McKinley, Armstrong.
BEST: Collingwood: Swan, Davis, Pendlebury, Didak, Thomas, Cloke. West Coast: Cox, Priddis, Kerr, Kennedy, Embley, Lynch.
INJURIES: Collingwood: Rocca (soreness) replaced in selected side by Cox. West Coast: Kerr (ankle), Schofield (ankle).
UMPIRES: James, Grun, Wenn.
CROWD: 52,968 at the MCG.

TALKING POINT
Dale Thomas' eye for a spectacular goal is undisputed. Even off the half-back line. Accepting Rhyce Shaw's handpass at full pelt, 15 metres shy of the centre circle, Thomas had one thing on his mind. Sixty sprinted metres and four bounces later, he split the middle, then was knocked to his knees where he stayed, fists clenched, shouting to the heavens.

THE UPSHOT
Only two weeks ago, Collingwood was considered an also-ran, eminently beatable, fighting with the pack to fill the bottom places of the eight. No longer. Now it looks a genuine premiership threat, backing up last week's wonderful effort by doing what good sides do — winning well against inferior opposition. With their already healthy percentage, and Melbourne and Carlton to come, the Magpies could well be sitting in the top four by the split round.

HOT AND COLD
Dane Swan was on fire from the first bounce, collecting 10 first-quarter possessions alone, running his heart out on the ball and getting forward to contribute two quality goals. David Wirrpanda, in contrast, was anything but his usual damaging self out of defence, having only six touches to three-quarter-time, and gifting his opponent Tarkyn Lockyer a goal with a needless 50-metre penalty.