Despite starting their premiership defence slowly, Collingwood crept ahead of the proverbial eight ball on Friday night after edging arch-rival Carlton by a solitary straight kick to take their record to 4-1-3 on the season.
After commencing their campaign with defeats to defeats to the Giants and Swans, the Pies found form across the back-half of March and beyond, securing successive victories against St Kilda, Brisbane, Hawthorn and Port Adelaide before their hard-fought stalemate against Essendon on ANZAC Day.
With the Blues also proving white-hot, more than 88,000 poured through the MCG's gates to witness the latest chapter in this storied battle of inner suburban neighbours, a chapter that would close with a predictably piercing Nick Daicos shot on goal just as the final minute arrived.
Speaking as the dust settled on the near-instant classic, Magpies head coach Craig McRae lauded the efforts of his charges, claiming they had fought back into the eight by putting their noses to the grindstone.
“That is a nourishing win. A couple of weeks ago I said you don't get style points, you only get four points; we had a bit of style to tonight, I felt,” McRae expressed.
“There were some things in our game that we expressed ourselves, we looked really connected at times. It is not a perfect game, but I think that's a nourishing win. That's a deeper win than we've potentially had this year."
But while the nailbiting win drew parallels to Collingwood's cardiac stylings from the past pair of seasons, McRae was quick to press that his side had their sights set forward in search of the club's 17th flag.
Pointing to a shift in off-ball pressure - one that saw the Magpies enter their forward 50 on 23 more occasions than the Blues, all off the back of 32 more tackles - McRae sent a warning shot to the league's fellow contenders by pressing his Pies had evolved.
“We're not here to go back in time and play like we did last year; that's not us, that's done; we want to be better. We weren't getting +31 in tackles last year, so that's a better version of us. It is hard to stop," he added.
McRae and the Magpies will earn their next opportunity to show their wares when they host West Coast at Marvel Stadium next Sunday afternoon.
