COLLINGWOOD has held off a desperate late charge from West Coast and moved through to a preliminary final with a 20-point win in the first qualifying final at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

In front of 67,379 fans, star midfielders Scott Pendlebury and Dane Swan peeled off a combined 81 possessions as the reigning premiers started and finished slowly but did enough to triumph 12.10 (82) to 9.8 (62).

Faced with a ferocious opponent, the Magpies could manage only one goal in the opening quarter and, when Matt Priddis snapped the first goal of the second term, faced a 14-point deficit.

At that point, the Eagles' tall forward line of Quinten Lynch, Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling and a resting Dean Cox or Nic Naitanui looked set to trouble the undersized Collingwood defence, which as expected lost All Australian nominee Ben Reid to a groin injury before the match.

But led by Pendlebury and Swan, the Magpies got on top in the middle of the ground and booted the next five goals.

From there Mick Malthouse's men looked in control as they extended a 13-point half-time lead to 26 points at the final change.

But two goals to Lynch and one to Darling in the last quarter drew the visitors to within seven points.

Consecutive set shot misses to Luke Shuey and Scott Selwood at the six- and eight-minute marks eventually proved costly as Luke Ball kicked the sealer for Collingwood with less than two minutes remaining.

A goal on the siren to substitute Alex Fasolo, who replaced Reid in the selected lineup, was icing on the cake.

Collingwood             1.1     7.5    10.7   12.10 (82)
West Coast                2.3     5.4      6.5   9.8 (62)

GOALS
Collingwood: Wellingham 3, Krakouer 2, Blair, Swan, Cloke, Dawes, Brown, Ball, Fasolo
West Coast: Lynch 3, LeCras 2, Kennedy, Priddis, Naitanui, Darling

BEST
Collingwood: Swan, Pendlebury, O'Brien, Wellingham, Davis, Shaw
West Coast: Naitanui, MacKenzie, Glass, Lynch, Waters, Shuey

INJURIES
Collingwood: Ben Reid (groin) replaced in the selected side by Alex Fasolo
West Coast: Daniel Kerr (back) replaced in the selected side by Patrick McGinnity, Cox (leg)

SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Alan Didak replaced by Alex Fasolo during the final quarter.
West Coast: Dean Cox (leg) replaced by Patrick McGinnity during the third quarter.

Reports: Nil

Umpires: McBurney, Margetts, Jeffery

Official crowd: 67, 379 at the MCG

The views in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs