Collingwood’s finals hopes hang in the balance after they stuttered to a 60-point loss to West Coast in Sunday’s AFL clash at Patersons Stadium.
Eagles ruckman Scott Lycett and forward Jack Darling booted four goals apiece, while midfielder Matt Priddis starred with 42 possessions and a goal to lift West Coast to the 19.12 (126) to 10.6 (66) victory.
The Magpies were sitting pretty in fourth spot on the table with an 8-3 record after round 12.
But six losses from their past eight games have seen them tumble to ninth with just three rounds remaining.
Collingwood will start as hot favourites to beat Brisbane (home) and GWS (away) over the next fortnight.
But if they are to reach the finals, they will probably need to beat defending premiers Hawthorn in a final-round blockbuster.
West Coast thought their finals hopes were over a fortnight ago.
But wins over Adelaide and Collingwood have put them right back in the mix.
The Eagles sit just one win adrift of the eighth-placed Bombers, with Saturday’s clash between the two sides at Etihad Stadium set to play a major role in defining the make-up of the top eight.
West Coast entered their match against Collingwood missing a host of their best players.
The late withdrawal of Mark LeCras robbed West Coast of one of their classiest ball users, and the Eagles were down to 21 men when Xavier Ellis was subbed off late in the first quarter.
Collingwood were off the boil from the outset, but a purple patch during the second term reduced the margin to 17 points at halftime.
However, the game was as good as over after the Eagles unleashed a brutal third quarter that netted them six unanswered goals during a golden 22-minute period.
Lycett kicked off the onslaught with two goals in the space of three minutes, while retiring Eagle Dean Cox was mobbed by his teammates after nailing a difficult left-foot snap.
Darling put the icing on the cake with three goals in the last term, with the final margin delivering Collingwood’s percentage a painful blow.
Although Collingwood struggled to penetrate the Eagles’ defence, a ground invader managed to make it into the Magpies’ forward 50m before his surging run was brought to a halt by ground security.
Collingwood midfielders Steele Sidebottom, Dayne Beams and Scott Pendlebury battled valiantly, but the Eagles’ prime movers were given too much space to inflict damage through the middle.
Ellis’s season could be over after he was accidentally clotheslined by Collingwood forward Ben Reid.
The 26-year-old Eagle was left dazed after copping an arm across the face while attempting to spoil, but it was the heavy landing on his right shoulder that caused the most damage.
