A thrilling run of Collingwood wins is breaking all sorts of quirky records.
The Pies, having won their last eight games by a cumulative total of just 66 points – the lowest combined margin in an eight-match winning streak in V/AFL history – are living life on the edge right now.
Craig McRae's side has somehow surged into the League's top-four – doing so having won six matches by single-digits margins and eight games by less than two kicks – with the weekend's dramatic post-siren victory over Essendon the latest of them.
It's left Collingwood with a percentage of just 106.2 heading into the home-and-away season's final month. It's remarkably low on all fronts and would shatter a 24-year record should the Pies ultimately qualify for a top-four berth.
Not since Melbourne in 1998 has a team qualified for the top four with a percentage lower than what Collingwood is currently sitting on. The Demons did so at just 102.7, before exiting September in a preliminary final against the Kangaroos.
Furthermore, according to Champion Data, Collingwood's is now the second-lowest percentage of any team to have won 13 games at this stage of a season in the entire history of the V/AFL.
Again, only Melbourne sits lower. Somewhat remarkably, the Demons – also with a 13-5 record – had a percentage of just 99.7 when they hit this stage of their campaign way back in 1989.
That Melbourne side – coached by John Northey and featuring players like Todd Viney, Garry Lyon, Jim Stynes and Luke Beveridge – won a V/AFL record of eight matches by under 12 points. Last Sunday, Collingwood equalled that record when it won its eighth game by less than two kicks. They're the only two sides to have ever done it.
Featured in Collingwood's run are 11-point wins over Essendon and Greater Western Sydney, a seven-point victory over North Melbourne, five-point triumphs over Gold Coast and Adelaide and further four-point wins over Carlton, Hawthorn and Essendon again.
The last time a team qualified for the top-four with a percentage lower than 110 came back in 2007, when North Melbourne did so having finished fourth at 109.3 per cent. Perhaps fittingly, the Kangaroos then lost their preliminary final by 87 points.
Percentage is often viewed internally among clubs as a significant indicator of a team's form across the entirety of the season, with Collingwood's currently the ninth-best in the competition despite its record.
Five of the next six teams beneath the Pies on the ladder currently have a percentage better than McRae's outfit, including Richmond who – despite its percentage of 114.5 – is now sitting outside the top-eight.
Collingwood's notably low percentage also comes despite the other top-four teams currently averaging 129.8 per cent between them. That's in line with the AFL average for top-four teams since 2000, which is 129.5 per cent.
