Clearly eager to put last week’s loss to Port Melbourne behind them, the Magpies started strongly, kicking four goals to one in the opening term.
This trend continued until half time with the home side holding a controlling 48-point lead at the main break.
Assistant coach Anthony Rocca praised the player’s efforts in bouncing back after what he described as a disappointing performance against Port Melbourne.
“Right from start today I thought our intensity and our effort was up,” Rocca said.
“That first half we played some good footy but we were a little bit disappointed in not executing on the scoreboard.
“Saying that, the effort and intensity was pretty good compared to what we gave last week.”
They haven’t been wearing the black and white for long, but it didn’t take long for Patrick Karnezis and Taylor Adams to exert their influence in the commanding win.
Playing predominantly through the midfield, Adams played a hand in delivering Karnezis the first goal for the day before continuing to find the footy at will.
Karnezis went on to finish with three majors for the match before spending the majority of the final term on the interchange bench.
Despite these strong efforts, Rocca warned of not becoming too reliant on players in the frame for an AFL call-up.
“Karnezis is great to have back. He’s very smart forward of the footy. He knows how to find the ball and knows the right running patterns to move around.”
“It’s a luxury to have them at stages but we can’t rely on those guys because we’re not going to have them from week to week.
Another man returning from injury was key defender Nathan Brown.
Brown was at times unable to influence the game, with the ball spending large amounts of time in the Collingwood forward line.
However he played all four quarters and showed glimpses of trademark composure with several strong marks inside defensive 50.
With the likes of Brown, Adams and Karnezis all setting their eyes on an ANZAC Day berth in the AFL next week, Rocca is wary of a tough challenge facing the Essendon reserves next Saturday.
However he believes the Bombers will be in for a fight if today’s encouraging signs continue.
“It’ll be a great challenge. They’re playing okay footy and we’ve got to bring effort and intensity again to get on the scoreboard and secure another win.”
