Collingwood coach Craig McRae revealed he sought out clarity over the tagging of superstar Nick Daicos amid contentious tactics that were deployed by Ed Langdon and Marcus Windhager in recent weeks.
Daicos was hindered by the Langdon's close following on King's Birthday but flipped the script on Windhager, gathering 30 disposals and a goal in the victory.
"I spoke to Dan Richardson (Coaching Engagement Manager) earlier in the week," McRae said.
"Nothing untoward. I was ringing about another issue, and I wondered what his take was on what's going on.
"I spoke to the umpires today at training... just an awareness on how they see things. We're here to protect our talent, and Nick is someone we want to support.
"In hindsight of this performance, we were rapt with how we looked after Nick."
McRae draws comparisons between Daicos and former teammate Simon Black, whom he enjoyed the golden years at Brisbane.
The father-son gun has been subject to run-with players for the majority of his 84 games in the AFL, which prompted his coach to provide "some things" Black did to assert his dominance over the opposition's stopper.
"I think Simon Black was the best I'd seen in my time โฆ but I sort of gave some things Blacky used to do to Nick," McRae said.
"Everyone is trying to support him, and he's a high-end talent, Nick, and this is progression.
"Chatting to Pendles (Scott Pendlebury), Pendles went through this early in his career. You have to go through this, (Marcus) Bontempelli is still doing it a couple of weeks ago.
"The best players have to cope with this, and this is a part of Nick's journey now.
"I thought we supported him a bit better; he's a pretty hard player to tag, his running capability is huge."
The Pies will be without Brayden Maynard for another week, while Billy Frampton (calf) and Beau McCreery (hamstring) will miss the West Coast clash.
Charlie Dean was confirmed to replace Frampton, while draftee Charlie West will make his debut against the Eagles.