The Magpies' courageous come-from-behind win over the GWS Giants – the club did not hit the front until the 23-minute mark of the final term - puts the team inside the top eight with an 11-10 win-loss record, and keeps their finals hopes alive heading into next week's round 23 do-or-die clash with Hawthorn. Whether they stay there at the end of the weekend will depend on the outcome of Sunday's game at the MCG where Richmond goes for its eighth straight victory when it takes on St Kilda.
Vote for your top three players from Collingwood's gutsy eight-point win in the Magpie Army Player of the Year Award.
2. Injury toll keeps mounting for Magpies
Builders may need to be called in for extensions to the Collingwood medical room after another horror weekend. Fresh from losing five players - Dayne Beams (knee), Travis Cloke (ankle), Heritier Lumumba (leg), Ben Reid (hamstring) and Alan Toovey (groin) - last Saturday night at the MCG, Sydney's Spotless Stadium offered little respite. Dane Swan and Clinton Young both suffered hamstring injuries in the second term, before the the club was down to just one interchange player when Brent Macaffer suffered a knee injury early in the second half.
3. Despite gallant effort Giants fail to add seventh name to list of vanquished
The Magpies had thrashed the Giants in their only two prior meetings, winning by 40 points at the MCG in 2013 and 120 points at this venue in 2012. It was a far different story this afternoon though. The Giants were in front for all but the last eight or so minutes and looked very likely to add Collingwood to the list of teams they have beaten so far in their short history. Alas it was not to be. Entering Saturday afternoon's contest, GWS had beaten Melbourne (three times), the Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and cross-town rivals the Sydney Swans.
4. Heath Shaw has come a long way
Following in the footsteps of his father Ray, uncle Tony and brother Rhyce, Heath Shaw spent nine years at Collingwood, playing 179 games and helping the Pies to the 2010 flag. But it wasn't all smooth sailing, with the dashing defender ultimately shipped to GWS last year in a trade for Taylor Adams. But he has embraced a leadership role at the Giants with some gusto and capped his impressive career renaissance by captaining the side against Collingwood on Saturday. It must still be a strange feeling for the rest of the Shaw family, but Heath is now entrenched in GWS orange, white and charcoal.
5. Ross Oakley praises Sheedy in birth of Giants
Former VFL/AFL chief executive Ross Oakley has likened the appointment of Kevin Sheedy as inaugural coach of the Giants to the time the Sydney Swans lured legend Ron Barassi up north. Oakley was a guest of the Giants at the pre-match president's function and told those present making Barassi coach was a key turning point for the Swans during what were very dark early years in the Harbour City. Oakley said Barassi gave the Swans "some credibility, as you have done with Kevin Sheedy". Oakley said Sydney had to have two teams, particularly given the importance of the Sydney market for the game's media rights.
