NICK Maxwell's pre-season has hit a hurdle with the defender suffering an ankle injury in the Pies' 33-point NAB Cup win over St Kilda at Visy Park on Friday afternoon.

The Saints weren't without their own concerns with veteran Lenny Hayes taken to hospital for assessment after being knocked out in the game's opening minutes.

Recap the live coverage of Collingwood's win.

Maxwell hurt his ankle 10 minutes into the second quarter when he landed awkwardly after a contest.

The Collingwood captain was helped from the field by trainers, unable to bear weight on his right side.

Hayes was knocked out seven minutes into the first in an accidental collision with Tyson Goldsack's knee.

After being assessed in hospital, he returned to the ground to watch the second half.

The match was played in contrasting conditions with blanketing rain opening both terms of the first half before bursts of brilliant sunshine.

The Pies started better and were more precise with their handling in the first term, which was dominated by Luke Ball (eight touches) and Chris Dawes (two goals).

The Saints didn't manage a goal until late in the second, when Arryn Siposs delivered the ball inside 50 and Leigh Montagna marked within easy range.

Their second came minutes later when Rhys Stanley booted the ball long and Stephen Milne threaded it through, despite the best efforts of Heath Shaw to smother.

They still trailed by 25 points at the main break with the Pies' forwards well on top of Jason Blake and Sam Fisher, and their midfield - led by Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Ball - standing out.

Siposs was good for the Saints and Brendon Goddard, Nick Dal Santo and Clint Jones won plenty of the ball but the Pies maintained a better level of intensity after halftime despite a late St Kilda surge.

Travis Cloke ended with five goals in a strong display, sure to delight coach Nathan Buckley.

Buckley was also impressed with the intensity his team produced.

"We moved the ball pretty well from our defence to our midfield but we didn't finish as well as we would have liked to in our forward 50," Buckley said.

"Take the ball movement and defence out of it and our will to contest around stoppages was chalk and cheese to the last couple of weeks.

"We've discussed personnel and it does help when you've got ready made experienced players who have been there, done that, and they know the intensity and level you need to reach and they were able to get there today, so that was the best thing out of it for us."

The result leaves the Pies with three wins for the pre-season.

COLLINGWOOD        0.3.5     0.5.11    0.7.15     0.10.20 (80)           
ST KILDA                     0.0.2     0.2.4     0.3.8        0.6.11 (47)

GOALS
Collingwood: Cloke 5, Dawes 2, Sinclair, Seedsman, Blair
St Kilda: Montagna 2, Milne, Koschitzke, Geary, Saad

BEST
Collingwood: Pendlebury, Ball, Dawes, Reid, O'Brien, Cloke, Jolly
St Kilda: Goddard, Siposs, Jones, Dal Santo

INJURIES
Collingwood: Maxwell (ankle), Cloke (cut head), Thomas (cut head)
St Kilda: Hayes (concussion), Milne (cut eye)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Wenn, Leppard, Mitchell, Harris

Official crowd: 3000 (approx.) at Visy Park

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.

Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.