The tendrils of Collingwood's dirty outing against Geelong will extend into next week, with confirmation that impactful skipper Darcy Moore will miss the side's road trip to Sydney through concussion.
The 30-year-old came off second best in a second-quarter contest with Oisin Mullin, and failed a half-time concussion test, meaning he was helpless to stem the tsunami of scoring that the Cats subjected his side to after the main break.
The clash with the Cats was just the third time this season Moore had been seen at the level, following a calf injury in the pre-season and a hamstring strain sustained against the GWS Giants in Round 3.
The Pies will be without another of their favourite sons against the rampaging Swans, with coach Craig McRae confirming the club's plans to rest veteran Scott Pendlebury, so that he will break the all-time games record in front of an adoring home crowd against the West Coast Eagles on the 23rd of May.
McRae was "unashamed" of that decision, despite its detractors, post-match.
"We're unashamed of the plan to play him the week after, all going to plan with his body," McRae said.
"This is a plan that we stick to with high-performance, but also rewarding and celebrating one of the greats of our game, and we're excited for what that looks like in a couple of weeks' time."
"We'll sit in this now, and have a shallow loss, and dust ourselves off quickly and get up to Sydney and put on a good performance for our fans – because it wasn't good enough tonight – and we're excited for that. But at the appropriate time, we'll make sure we celebrate 'Pendles' for what it (sic) is.
"We'll pick 23 fit players to go up there and play the Swans, who will be a good challenge for us."
The Magpies will undoubtedly be licking their wounds following the 54-point pounding administered by Chris Scott's Cats, but must quickly turn their attention to Friday night's clash with the top-of-the-table Swans.
