Collingwood can keep itself a game ahead of the pack in top spot with a win over Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.
The Pies (7-1, 121.2%) are aiming for a fifth consecutive win and are fresh off a victory over the Giants’ cross-town rivals, the Swans.
Greater Western Sydney (3-5, 91.9%) fell to the Western Bulldogs last week and will again be without star captain Toby Greene due to injury.
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This match gets underway at 4:40pm AEST from the MCG.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (Channel 504) from 4pm AEST.
QUARTER-BY-QUARTER MATCH REPORT
There were no late changes for either side, with Reef McInnes (Collingwood) and Callan Ward (Giants) named the subs.
In his first game against his old side, Magpies recruit Bobby Hill pulled off a stunning opening major, gather in the right forward pocket and dribbling through a special goal.
“You are kidding me. How’s that for an opener,” excited Fox Footy commentator Dwayne Russell said.
Hill added another minutes later, while Jamie Elliott and Will Hoskin-Elliott also added majors to ensure Collingwood had a handy lead at quarter-time.
There was a sour note for the Magpies however midway through the first term when Jack Ginnivan limped to the bench then down to the rooms for further assessment after appearing to cop a knock to his knee from Giants defender Callum Brown in a contest.
But Ginnivan returned to the field and had an immediate impact, kicking a goal to give te Pies a 15-point lead at the first change.
Mason Cox, who had seven disposals and three clearances in the first term, then had a big moment at the start of the second term, taking a strong contested mark then convering his set-shot that brought a big smile to the face of coach Craig McRae on the bench.
“Wow. They are looking hotter than they have done all season,” Russell said.
It was a Magpies procession in the second quarter, booting 4.3 to 1.4 to lead by 32 points at the main break. But more remakrably, the Pies laid 22 tackles to the Giants’ two. In fact at one stage in the second term, the Giants had a pressure rating of just 119, which is exceptionally low.
“That’s why it’s Harlem Globetrotter stuff because that pressure ranking is pitiful at the moment for the Giants,” Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy told Fox Footy.
The Giants clearly responded after half-time, kicking three of the first five goals of the third term as they got on top at stoppages through Josh Kelly and ruck Matt Flynn.
But goals to Beau McCreery and Elliott — amid a questionable non-free kick that saw fans at the MCG erupt — saw the Pies settle and kick away to a game-high 41-point lead at three quarter-time.
Meanwhile, Ward was subbed into the game for the Giants, replacing Brown, while Pies veteran Scott Pendlebury was replaced by McInnes.
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