Notable:
- It isn’t fair to pick on Melbourne during what has been a difficult period for the league’s oldest club, but it is worth highlighting the fact that the Magpies were able to restrict them to their equal lowest half time score (1.7) and their outright lowest three quarter time score of the season (3.9). They weren’t able to hold them to their lowest score of the year, though, with Melbourne’s 5.9 (39) outstripping their 5.6 (36) against Essendon in round two. These stats represent a big tick for Collingwood’s defenders and their coach Ben Hart.
- Collingwood was handball happy during Monday’s match. Nathan Buckley claimed that his side “mucked around” with the ball too often, resulting in a kick-to-handball ratio that was almost 1:1. Midfield stars Scott Pendlebury (12 kicks, 22 handballs) and Luke Ball (eight kicks, 23 handballs) were among those to have the largest discrepancies.
- The MCG played host to Adam Oxley’s AFL debut. The Queenslander became Collingwood’s seventh new face in 11 games and, like the other debutants, he did not look out of place. He began as the substitute and entered the fray when Nathan Brown was taken off the field for team balance purposes. Oxley gathered six possessions, one mark and one tackle but rarely wasted a touch. He underlined his poise and undoubted class when he hit Dane Swan on the chest to set up his superstar teammate for a third quarter goal with what was his first possession.
- Josh Thomas continues to go from strength-to-strength underneath the packs. The nuggetty Queenslander has relished the greater game time afforded to him in recent weeks and ended Monday’s game as Collingwood’s fourth most prolific player (15 kicks, 12 handballs, seven marks, two tackles).
- You could sense the crowd lift every time Alan Didak got involved. It was the first time ‘Dids’ had played at the MCG since last year’s Semi-Final win over West Coast and he was clearly keen to make up for lost time. Didak earned 25 possessions and kicked a trademark goal on the run from 55m out. It was in the corresponding fixture that he tore his adductor last year. It’s safe to say that he ended this year’s Queen’s Birthday clash with a much wider smile on his face.
- Monday’s MCG crowd of 50,835 is the smallest to attend on a Queen’s Birthday match between Melbourne and Collingwood since the tradition was rejuvenated in 2001. It was not the lowest crowd between the two teams during that time, however. That mantle goes to Collingwood’s second round win over the Demons in 2009 (43,169).
Vote for your top three players following Monday's win to help decide who will take home the Magpie Army Player of the Year Award.
| Player | K | H | D | M | HO | FF | FA | T | G | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36. Dane Swan | 22 | 17 | 39 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 10. Scott Pendlebury | 12 | 22 | 34 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 12. Luke Ball | 8 | 23 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 24. Josh Thomas | 15 | 12 | 27 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 4. Alan Didak | 15 | 10 | 25 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 39. Heath Shaw | 18 | 6 | 24 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 21. Quinten Lynch | 12 | 10 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 32. Travis Cloke | 14 | 5 | 19 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 46. Marley Williams | 7 | 12 | 19 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 22. Steele Sidebottom | 10 | 9 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 8. Heritier O'Brien | 12 | 6 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 40. Paul Seedsman | 10 | 7 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 27. Ben Kennedy | 8 | 9 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 11. Jarryd Blair | 7 | 10 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 3. Brent Macaffer | 13 | 4 | 17 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 20. Ben Reid | 10 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 5. Nick Maxwell | 7 | 8 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 28. Ben Sinclair | 7 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 43. Kyle Martin | 10 | 3 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18. Darren Jolly | 4 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 16. Nathan Brown | 2 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 43. Adam Oxley | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Key
K: Kicks, H: Handballs, D: Disposals, M: Marks, HO: Hitouts, FF: Free Kicks For, FA: Free Kicks Against, T: Tackles, G: Goals, B: Behinds.
