Experience wins out: Pies win down the stretch

We've read this script before.

For the third consecutive season, Collingwood has entered 2026 with queries about their age and reliance on players supposed to be past their prime.

Yet again, they proved their age was their greatest weapon, with the Magpies experience helping them calmly close out the game against a frenetic St Kilda.

It was composure vs chaos in the last 10 minutes.

St Kilda had plenty of chances after kicking their ninth goal at the four-minute-mark of the last quarter, but were unable to finish their work or capitalise on momentum and repeated inside 50s.

Poor connection plagued them all night as they won inside 50s by 23 but converted it into a goal just once every seven entries, compared to the Pies' rate which was better than a goal every four entries.

"Our centre square work was great, our stoppage work, our front half game but really the challenge is they'll aim to beat you on turnover and their outside game," Lyon said post-game.

"(We needed) to handle their heat and I thought we did that, but then you've got to be organised off turnover when you're behind the attack and sometimes they beat us at the contest, but they obviously did that more than we would like.

"In the third quarter, they kicked 5.5 and bounced out of our front half which hadn't been happening. We'll take the 61 entries, our front half game and our stoppage work but our efficiency…connection, contest, cleanness and taking (half) opportunities wasn't up to the level required."

The Saints' rushed decision-making was particularly glaring late.

Early in stoppage time, the Magpies hemmed themselves in their defensive half with poor disposal exiting defensive 50 - but their competition-leading defence continued to bail them out.

A Darcy Wilson kick out on the full and St Kilda not nominating a ruck at a boundary throw-in, both in the last two minutes, was symbolic of St Kilda's panic.

Meanwhile, Collingwood controlled the clock with ease, racking up 140 uncontested marks for the game as their long-term experience closing out tight games shone through.

Nick Daicos led the way for the Pies, Isaac Quaynor stood tall in an undermanned defence, and Lachie Schultz's bravery and intensity in the forward line was significant.

For St Kilda, Jack Sinclair performed well in his first game as co-captain.

Marshall concussion

St Kilda ruck Rowan Marshall is set to miss the Saints Round 1 clash against Melbourne next Sunday due to concussion.

Marshall was withdrawn from the game in the fourth quarter after suffering a head knock in the third term, and will have to work his way through the protocols.

It was a quiet night for Marshall, who managed just six disposals, eight hitouts and three clearances in his first game alongside Tom De Koning, whose 17 hitouts and 20 disposals proved an interesting battle with Darcy Cameron, who impacted aerially at both ends.

The tagging dilemma

St Kilda was slow to react, while Collingwood came with a plan.

McRae was asked during the week whether Nick Daicos and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera could line up on each other and said - in jest - that Ross Lyon wouldn't let it happen.

As it turned out, Daicos had acres of room in the first half, racking up 19 disposals, exploding from traffic with ease.

Marcus Windhager has successfully run with him before, but it was Hugo Garcia who went to him, and with the Pies getting on top in the third term, Daicos' teammates used every goal to go after the third-year Saint physically.

Garcia worked hard and had some big moments, but the moment had passed with Daicos running amok after a big first half, finishing with 41 disposals.

Meanwhile, Wanganeen-Milera had just 19, his lowest disposal tally in 40 games.

Harry Perryman was given the assignment on the star Saint from the get-go, going everywhere with him and nullifying his impact by keeping the ball out of his hands and not giving him the space to slice through the Pies defence.

The next evolution of Wanganeen-Milera, after establishing himself as a star of the competition last season, will be to deal with the attention that will come from direct matchups.

And it's also incumbent on the Saints to help him out and capitalise by using other players when he is struggling to impact. 

Pies pre-season plan pays off

Much was made of Collingwood's decision to rest Nick Daicos, Tim Membrey, Jamie Elliott, Steele Sidebottom, Scott Pendlebury and Jack Crisp from its AAMI Community Series game.

Questions were asked of whether the players would be ready to go for an AFL-intensity match the following week and whether they would be well enough conditioned to run out the game.

But the decision proved a masterful one.

Daicos was best afield with 41 disposals, Elliott kicked the sealer in the last quarter, Pendlebury had 26 disposals and five goal assists from just 55 per cent game-time, Membrey had four shots on goal, Sidebottom had moments and Crisp started strongly.

A high-octane first 10 minutes and cool finish further proved that the team was in-sync when it needed to be.

McRae uses every available opportunity to praise head of high performance Jarrod Wade and his load management had the Pies primed for a gritty Opening Round victory, 12 months after a loss in the corresponding fixture.