Collingwoodfc.com.au puts the magnifying glass on the Pies’ gritty round nine victory over Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

The Result
Collingwood 10.15 (75)
Adelaide 6.13 (49)
Goals - Goldsack, Beams, Sidebottom 2, Shaw, Didak, Pendlebury, Wellingham
Disposals - Beams 36, Sidebottom 31, Pendlebury 29, D.Thomas 29, Blair 23

A trip to AAMI Stadium in front of 44,238 passionate Croweaters to play a rampant Adelaide outfit that had brutally disposed of Geelong and Carlton in the past fortnight must surely be one of the most daunting on any club’s fixture.

Click here to watch the CTV highlights from the 26-point win.

But the Magpies proved again that you can never write them off, holding firm in an arm-wrestle that lasted three quarters before running away with the match thanks to a five goal to none final term. Dayne Beams’ hot form continued with 36 disposals. Support came from the usual suspects in Steele Sidebottom (31 disposals) and Scott Pendlebury (29 disposals) while Dale Thomas produced a stirring 13 disposal final quarter.

Bucks’ take
“No doubt that (Lachlan Keeffe’s knee injury) stretches you, but … individuals come in and play the roles that are designated of them and if they commit to that the collective are generally able to play the type of footy that wins games. I thought that when he went down, we probably stabilised around the ball and our structure behind the ball was a lot better” - Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.

Hear more from Bucks in his post match press conference.

Over the fence
“For them to come back into the game … and then accelerate away from us was a bit un-Adelaide-like from what we've seen this season. They smashed us in the last quarter; what was it? A 32-point turnaround or something? They sort of did to us what we've been doing to other sides late in the game.” - Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson.

Read the match report here.

Beam us up
OUT: Luke Ball. IN: Dayne Beams.

OK, it mightn’t have been quite that simple, but you get the picture. Beams has not missed a beat this season and has shouldered the load usually reserved for the injured Ball with the maturity of a player with far more than 67 games of experience. He had a career high 36 possessions on Saturday night and was particularly strong around the contested ball. Further to that, he laid five tackles and kicked two goals. A virtuoso performance.

You remind us of someone…
It’s been a rapid rise for 18-year-old Marley Williams who made his AFL debut against the Crows. Six months ago, he was building fences in Western Australia. In the blink of an eye, he’s risen from the rookie list to the big time and did not look out of place in gathering 11 disposals and three marks against one of the AFL’s best outfits. His commitment to the contest and ability to put his body over the ball reminded some Magpie fans of Brodie Holland and Paul Licuria. If he can be half the player those two were, he should be well pleased.

View the best photos from Collingwood's trip to AAMI Stadium.

Goalsack
In five seasons and 69 games, Tyson Goldsack troubled the scorers on only 12 occasions, kicking 7.5 playing mostly as a defender. Now deployed in attack, Goldsack has quickly proven his nous around the big sticks. He has kicked 10.6 in nine games and has registered two or more goals in each of his past four games. Goldsack twice kicked bags of five goals for the Gippsland U18s in the TAC Cup in 2006 while playing in the midfield, so it’s certainly no fluke.

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The medical room
Lachlan Keeffe was the only casualty reported from the trip to Adelaide. The 22-year-old injured his right knee early in the final quarter and was stretchered from the field. Buckley told the media that the injury is “a suspected ACL”. Of the remaining senior key defenders Chris Tarrant returned from a calf strain in the VFL against Bendigo last week while Nathan Brown (knee) and Ben Reid (quad) are both working their way back from their respective injuries.

Final quarter blitz
The Magpies are running out the game with each week and it’s showing on the scoreboard. After not winning a final quarter in the first five rounds, Collingwood has won three of its past four final terms and closed the game with 5.5 to 0.3 on Saturday night.

Watch the CTV highlights, including Lachlan Keeffe’s knee injury, here.

Consider this
The win was Collingwood’s fifth in a row against Adelaide and its seventh from the past eight meetings. Key forward Chris Dawes now boasts a 5-0 record against the Crows, having played in the 2008 Elimination Final victory and missing selection for the loss in round one, 2009.

What does it mean?
-    The Magpies just know how to get the job done on the road. The win was their 14th from their past 15 interstate trips, and extended their winning streak at AAMI Stadium against both South Australian clubs to eight.
-    It wasn’t only Dale Thomas who lifted in the last quarter. Alan Didak was at his most dynamic up forward in amassing eight disposals where his clean ball handling stood out in the wet. He also kicked a team-lifting goal from 50m to help seal the deal.
-    The win was recorded without either Travis Cloke or Chris Dawes kicking a goal. You have to go back to the loss to Geelong in round nine, 2010 to find the last instance in which this has occurred. In the 31 games since, they’ve both combined for at least one goal, underlining their consistency.

VFL
Collingwood’s VFL team should be well prepared to tackle Werribee at Avalon Airport Oval on Saturday at 2pm after it enjoyed a bye weekend to allow for the State of Origin clash between the Victorian Football League and Tasmanian State League representative teams. Magpies’ captain Kris Pendlebury was the only member of the side to play for Victoria who easily accounted for Tasmania by 108-points in Hobart.

Looking ahead…
Collingwood will play its only Sunday game of the season when it hosts Gold Coast at the MCG at 4.40pm. It will be the Magpies’ second clash against the Suns having defeated them by 54-points up north last season. An interesting footnote to the match is the return of Gary Ablett to the MCG where he hasn’t faced the Magpies since the 2010 Preliminary Final when he accumulated 40 possessions in his final match for Geelong. Other former Magpies who are potential selections include Danny Stanley, Sam Iles and Josh Fraser, while Shane O’Bree will have control of the midfield as one of the Suns’ assistant coaches.