Port Adelaide is threatening to break into the top eight after its fleet of small forwards led the team to its sixth win of the season, cruising past a disappointing Collingwood to win by 67 points at the MCG on Sunday.
Written off as a September contender after lurching to 2-3 in the first five rounds, the Power have recovered and were a class above the Magpies in slippery conditions, winning 19.11 (125) to 7.16 (58).
They will finish the round one game behind eighth-placed Adelaide if their cross-town rival accounts for St Kilda, but there is no doubt their finals flame is flickering.
Port coach Ken Hinkley won the coaches' box battle against Nathan Buckley, with his small forward line and loose man behind the ball allowing the Power to dictate play for the majority of the match.
Jake Neade (four goals), Aaron Young (four) and Chad Wingard (three) ran riot in the forward half, continually outsmarting their opponents to find space and kick goals on the counter-punch.
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Jarman Impey was the star, however, cutting the Magpies defenders to pieces in his new half-forward role and repeatedly setting up teammates with his 22 possessions and six inside 50s.
When Young ran into an open goal at the end of the final term, the Power had kicked seven goals from the goal square, highlighting the breakdown in Collingwood's defence and failure to run out the game.
The match was effectively over when Neade opened up a 44-point lead half way through the third quarter, with Robbie Gray and the hard-working Charlie Dixon combining brilliantly on the boundary line to keep the ball alive and set up the goal.
By the fourth quarter the MCG was silent, with the Magpies' faithful knowing their team, now 4-7 and well adrift of the top eight, had a herculean battle on its hands to avoid a third straight September holiday.
Key forward Travis Cloke finished with 0.1 in a low-key return to the team after a six-week hiatus in the VFL.
He ran hard defensively and competed in the air but was done no favours by his midfielders' shoddy ball-use.
The two teams' contrasting game styles were stark in the first quarter as the Power kicked long to a small forward line and the Magpies tried to hit up tall targets in the wet.
After finding their feet in the opening 10 minutes, the Power's own 'mosquito fleet' started to run rampant, going on a five-goal run, with three of those coming from the goal square.
Struggling to hit targets, the Magpies failed to adjust their style in the second quarter and fell further behind, with tall forward Jesse White missing goals from 10m and 20m out.
Their talls found themselves double-teamed by Port's loose man, with Cloke unable to get into the game offensively.
Their best target was American Mason Cox, who kicked goals on the quarter time and half-time sirens but, like Cloke, was fighting an uphill battle against a smarter, more organised team.
COLLINGWOOD 3.3 5.10 6.13 7.16 (58)
PORT ADELAIDE 5.2 10.5 15.9 19.11 (125)
GOALS
Collingwood: Sidebottom 2, Cox 2, Pendlebury, De Goey, Grundy
Port Adelaide: Neade 4, Young 4, Wingard 3, R Gray, Boak, Trengove, Westhoff, Neade, Hartlett, Impey, S Gray
BEST
Collingwood: Pendlebury, Greenwood, Treloar, Sidebottom, Howe
Port Adelaide: Impey, Young, R Gray, Dixon, Wingard, Hartlett, Westhoff, Neade, Wines
INJURIES
Collingwood: Howe (left knee)
Port Adelaide: Boak (ankle)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Fisher, Schmitt, Meredith
Official crowd: 28,567 at the MCG
