Collingwood's stirring 34-point win over Adelaide in hostile territory carried a significant subplot, with the futures of several key Magpies thrust back into the spotlight.
Scott Pendlebury, Tim Membrey, Steele Sidebottom, Jack Crisp, Jeremy Howe and Ed Allan all played influential roles in Thursday night's victory, with attention now shifting to their contract situations.
Allan is one of several Magpies still weighing up his future, but after a breakout campaign that included another impressive run-with role on Crows captain Jordan Dawson, a new deal at Collingwood appears the most likely outcome.
SEE MORE: Collingwood's Ed Allan breaks silence on future
"I'm a big believer in doing what you can control," Collingwood coach Craig McRae said.
"And when you're doing things that Tim Membrey is doing, Ed Allan, those (contract talks) take care of themselves. He was really impressive (against the Crows), Ed. Two goals in the last quarter. Pivotal to the outcome.
"We're getting improvement across the board, which is what we're employed to do as coaches. We try to set up an environment for them all to grow."
Pendlebury (29 touches, five clearances and a goal) was one of Collingwood's best in the comeback win while Sidebottom (23 possessions, five inside 50s and a goal) and Howe (denied Taylor Walker in the second half) continued to deny Father Time.
Sidebottom is tipped to retire at season's end, while no clear decision has been made on the fellow Pies pair.
"Honestly, it will be a lot on him," McRae said of Pendlebury.
"That's the way I see it. I'm not a part of contracts. I've never negotiated contracts in my life. I don't even know what the players are on. What I will say is, he will lead that narrative more than most. So we'll see how that plays out."
McRae also alluded to the club being in a strong position for an all-out assault on the upcoming trade and free agency period.
The Pies were heavily into Hawthorn's Mitch Lewis, but he opted to turn his back on free agency and sign a four-year extension.
Gold Coast's Ben King is leaning towards joining the Hawks, but has had interest from Collingwood, as has Port Adelaide's Zak Butters, who is tipped to return to Victoria, with the Western Bulldogs, Richmond and Geelong vying for his services.
"We're in the business of getting better," McRae said.
"We're going to have significant money in our salary cap for this trade period. We'd like to potentially use it all up. I don't know what that looks like. We planned to put ourselves in a position to improve ourselves."
