COLLINGWOOD continued its form resurgence on the back of a rampant midfield to record a thumping 58-point win over the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba on Saturday night.

The Magpies ambushed the home team in the first quarter, kicking the opening five goals, and were never troubled in the 17.14 (116) to 8.10 (58) victory.

The only sour note for Collingwood was the second quarter knee injury to defender Nathan Brown, who was caught awkwardly in a marking contest by teammate Harry O'Brien.

Brown was wrestling Lions skipper Jonathan Brown when O'Brien came in as the third man to spoil. He fell awkwardly in the contest and limped from the field in the hands of trainers clutching his reconstructed left knee.

The injury comes in Brown's third game back from his reconstruction last year and continues a woeful run of injuries for Magpie defenders that includes Chris Tarrant, Ben Reid and Ben Johnson.

The win was Collingwood's (5-2) fourth straight and entrenches it in the top eight ahead of Friday night's Grand Final rematch against Geelong at the MCG.

The Magpies were hungry and relentless all night and showed glimpses of the form that took them to the past two Grand Finals.

Steele Sidebottom set the tone with a blistering first quarter that netted him 15 of his match-high 35 disposals.

He had plenty of mates, with midfield maestros Dane Swan (34 touches and two goals) and Scott Pendlebury (33) warming into the contest beautifully.

Pendleubry was kept quiet by Lions' tagger Andrew Raines in the first half, but when Raines moved to take Swan in the second, the Brownlow medalist cut loose.

He took Raines to full forward, took three marks in three minutes - kicking two goals - and stifled a minor Lions' revival.

It continued a stretch of almost two years since the Lions beat a top-eight team - ironically Collingwood in round 10, 2010 - and left them with just nine wins from their past 47 matches.

They were best served by Jack Redden (28 touches and eight tackles) and defender Matt Maguire, who did a terrific job on Collingwood brute Travis Cloke once moved to him in the second term.

COLLINGWOOD     6.4     9.7    12.12    17.14 (116)
BRISBANE LIONS     2.1    3.7      7.9     8.10 (58)
 
GOALS
Collingwood: Goldsack 3, Cloke 2, Sidebottom 2, Sinclair 2, Swan 2, Wood 2, Didak, Keeffe, Shaw, Wellingham
Brisbane Lions: Brown 2, Karnezis 2, Merrett, Black, Polec, Rich
 
BEST
Collingwood: Sidebottom, Swan, Pendlebury, Maxwell, Beams, O'Brien
Brisbane Lions: Redden, Maguire, Black, Hawksley
 
INJURIES
Collingwood: Dawes (virus) replaced in selected side by Yagmoor, Brown (knee)
Brisbane Lions: Hanley (hamstring)

SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Nathan Brown replaced by Peter Yagmoor in the second quarter
Brisbane Lions: Pearce Hanley replaced by Dayne Zorko at half-time
 
Reports: Nil
 
Umpires: Donlon, Kamolins, Armstrong
 
Official crowd: 27,926 at the Gabba
 
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs