1. The ruck battle between Brodie Grundy and Nic Naitanui has been one of the enduring individual ruck rivalries of the modern era. It rarely disappoints and this was engrossing again. Both had their moments and were influential in their team performances, but Naitanui probably had the slightest edge in the head contest because of his clearance work on top of his ruck skills. Naitanui’s 10 clearances was a game high, just ahead of Collingwood midfield ace Taylor Adams. Grundy had four.

2. There’s no sugar coating it, the first half against the Pies was poor. In the first quarter the Eagles led the inside 50 metre count 14-11, but trailed by the best part of four goals at the break. The trend this season has been that the efficiency inside the arc from limited supply has seen the Eagles still establish victory, but poor entries and missed shots was symptomatic of the day. In the second quarter the Eagles simply could not match the aggression and will of Collingwood.

04:14

Simpson post-match v Magpies

Hear from senior coach Adam Simpson after a tough day at the MCG

3. To the naked eye it appeared as though Collingwood had the better of the stoppages, but the numbers were in favour of the Eagles. Many of those, however, seemed to be a scramble forward and the Pies broke away with cleaner ball use. The numbers said the Eagles were plus-six from clearances, but minus-three in contested possessions. Perhaps the key stats was ground balls where the Eagles were minus-17.

4. The class of the Collingwood midfield proved decisive and the move of Jordan De Goey into the engine room under Robert Harvey has been telling. He and Adams both had 34 possessions while Steele Sidebottom collected 33. Almost as importantly for them, rebounding defenders Jack Crisp and Brayden Maynard also had big numbers, with Crisp gathering 36 possessions and Maynard getting 30 touches as they mopped up some of the messy entries from the Eagles.

5. Mid-season draft selection Connor West has been an exciting inclusion into the squad and has impressed in his three senior games. He went as hard at the contest as any of his teammates against Collingwood and while 13 possessions and four marks don’t reflect his output, he continues to grow. Part of his football education was to run with Sidebottom in the second half and he will glean a lot from that experience.