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 either side of quarter-time before the Magpies slowly chipped away at the 25-point deficit, 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.
The Crows stunned the second-placed Swans in Sydney last week and Taylor Walker admitted they had “probably” undone some of that hard work.
“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 Walker, who kicked his 700th AFL goal in the first quarter and would bring his tally to three early in the second term before Collingwood kicked 13 of the next 16 goals.
Daicos was instrumental, as were ruckman Darcy Cameron (23 disposals, six clearances, 37 hitouts) and veteran Scott Pendlebury (29 touches, one goal).
Magpies Dan McStay, Tim Membrey and Ed Allan kicked two goals each.
Walker couldn’t add to his early three goals while Riley Thilthorpe also finished with three.
Crows midfielder Sam Berry collected 30 disposals and 10 clearances, Izak Rankine — facing the Pies for the first time since his homophobic slur suspension — had 25 touches, and defenders Wayne Milera (24 possessions) and Josh Worrell (21, seven marks) were busy.
Collingwood defender Isaac Quaynor, the innocent party from Rankine’s ban, was first booed seconds into the game as the home fans defied coach Matthew Nicks’ call for respect.
The Pies kicked the initial two goals before a rapid retort from Adelaide, who notched five goals in 15 minutes including Walker’s landmark.
The 36-year-old threaded a 45m set shot from a boundary line to become the 28th VFL/AFL player to reach the 700-goal milestone.
Walker soon added another to help the Crows to a 13-point lead at quarter-time, 5.3 to 3.2.
The Adelaide great kicked his third major early in the second quarter and when Thilthorpe converted soon after, the home side were 25 points clear.
But the Magpies rallied late, turning the tide with three quick goals including a stunning long-range checkside effort from McStay, that reduced their half-time deficit to just eight points.
The Collingwood onslaught continued in the third quarter, with De Goey kicking one of four Magpies goals to Adelaide’s two as the visitors created a 14-point lead.
Crows veteran Ben Keays pegged one back late to shrink the margin to eight points at three-quarter time.
But Daicos then put an exclamation point on his superb display, converting a long bomb on the run as the visitors finished with flourish with six majors to two in the quarter.
— with AAP
