Not even an AFL record 53 disposals from Gold Coast’s Gary Ablett could stop Collingwood notching a commanding 23.11 (149) to 7.10 (52) win at the MCG on Sunday.
The Magpies’ seventh straight win bucked the weekend’s trend of upsets and lifted them to within percentage of top-placed West Coast, although they still sit in fourth spot.
The Suns remain the competition’s only winless team.
The one concern for the Magpies was midfield star Scott Pendlebury being subbed out of the game at halftime after receiving a knock to the lower leg in the first quarter, although he played the second term with no apparent problems.
Collingwood were missing a host of key players, with Darren Jolly and Alan Toovey pre-game withdrawals, joining the likes of Dane Swan, Luke Ball, Heath Shaw, Ben Reid and Chris Tarrant on the sidelines.
But those absences were barely noticed.
Cameron Wood, playing just his fourth game of the season, was a handy fill-in for Jolly in the ruck, while Dale Thomas, Dayne Beams, Alan Didak and Pendlebury, with 17 first-half touches, led a dominant midfield performance.
For much of the day, Thomas was opposed to Suns superstar Ablett, whose possession tally equalled the statistical record set by Greg Williams for Sydney in 1989.
But while Thomas had fewer disposals, his 32 touches were more damaging, scoring three goals and setting up numerous others.
It helped that he had far more support.
Collingwood’s midfield depth helped them take the ball inside their attacking 50m arc 60 times to Gold Coast’s 36.
Some gift goals, including one from an interchange infringement and another from a botched Harry O’Brien kick-in, kept the Suns in touch until early in the second term, when they were just 14 points down.
But the Magpies blew them away with six goals in a 13-minute burst, during which time the ball barely left their attacking half.
Beams and Didak were instrumental in that surge, each kicking a goal and setting up another.
Collingwood’s dominance could have been more emphatic, if not for key forward Travis Cloke’s wayward kicking.
Cloke took nine marks, but kicked 3.4 and another two shots out of bounds.
Apart from Ablett, agile half-forward Harley Bennell provided some good moments for the Suns.
