Chris Fagan's Easter weekend could scarcely have gotten off to a better start, after his Lions belted a depleted Magpies outfit in their traditional Easter Thursday encounter.
Missing plenty of big names themselves, the Lions took full advantage of a Collingwood outfit missing their current captain in Darcy Moore, former captain in Scott Pendlebury, and likely future captain in Nick Daicos.
Their dominance was kickstarted by a powerful midfield performance, with the Lions winning clearances by 18 and contested possessions by 39, but Fagan was complimentary of all three of his lines after the comprehensive 17.17 (119) to 10.5 (65) victory.
"It was a really even team performance," Fagan said.
"I thought we played fantastic footy, and it felt like we could've won by a little but more. I don't mean to sound greedy but we did play exceptionally well in all facets, whether it be contest, team defence, (and) our offence was outstanding.
"Collingwood have been doing a really good job defensively for the first three games of the season but I thought we played in a way tonight that made it difficult for them to defend."
The Lions defence is heavily depleted at the moment, with their key back stocks particularly thinned by way of a suspension to co-captain Harris Andrews, and the injury-enforced absence of veteran Darcy Gardiner. As such, Fagan believed midfield dominance in order to dictate territory and alleviate potential pressure on the makeshift defence would be important.
"I felt like if we could get on top in the midfield and get good supply to our forward line that would be a bonus because the area of the ground that's affected for us at the moment is our defence, in terms of personnel, or big name personnel," he said.
"We were able to take the heat off that part of the ground pretty well, but I also thought the blokes that played down there did a terrific job. I thought Darragh (Joyce) was great tonight, (and) played his best game for the club.
"Ty (Gallop) was very, very good, Ryan Lester set a great example down there to the rest of them and our small defenders really repelled and set us up for attack exceptionally well."
The Lions' off-season recruits truly hit their straps on Thursday night, with the aerial prowess of former Bomber Sam Draper and former Eagle Oscar Allen a feature of the victory, ably supported by rising star, Logan Morris.
Draper's work at centre bounce drew his coach's praise, with the supply he gave his stellar crop of midfielders a key reason by the Lions generated scores from that source.
"We did exceptionally well at centre bounce - we kicked a big score from centre bounce. I thought (Sam) Draper and (Darcy) Fort in the ruck gave us lots of good looks as well," the coach said.
The game also looked to be the making of Will Ashcroft as a consistent, top-level contributor to the side. With two Norm Smith Medals in his back pocket, Ashcroft has proven he can perform on the big stage, but weekly excellence was always going to be the next step in his development.
After a sluggish first two weeks of the season, the older of the two Ashcroft boys franked a brilliant final quarter last week with a best on ground performance against the Pies.
36 disposals, a likely Goal of the Year contender, 11 score involvements, six clearances and 15 contested possessions tell the story of his impact on the resounding victory.
"I think he knows how good he can become," his coach said.
"That last quarter last week gave him a lot of confidence and we've all got a lot of faith in him, and he knows it. Hopefully he can become one of those players that we look to now to lead us out on the field and get us going. It was really pleasing to see him follow up his last quarter form (last week) with what he did today."
Fagan signed off his press conferences with player availability updates, and it's good news for Lions' faithful, with two defensive pillars expected to take part in Gather Round.
Hugh McCluggage "turned a corner" this week too, but no risks will be taken with the damaging midfielder.
"I don't know if 'Hughie' (McCluggage) will be back next week, but Harris (Andrews) certainly will, and I think Noah Answerth should be available next week (too)," Fagan said on the trio.
The Lions face North Melbourne, in the Barossa, next Saturday.
