Steele Sidebottom gets a handball away for Collingwood despite the attentions of Marcus Bontempelli. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs made AFL football look a pretty complicated game for much of their Friday night clash, both teams spending the first half doing a lot of chipping the ball around for precious little return.

When the Dogs finally began to prise things open after half-time, it was initiative that looked set to pay off, a five-goals-to-two third term handing them the lead for the first time all evening.

But perhaps that did Collingwood a favour, too. For possession and slow build-ups weren’t going to do the job now. And the Pies went as far away from that as possible in a final quarter burst which was direct, efficient and ultimately, match-winning.

It was a glimpse of the standard of which the Pies are capable. Which, to be frank, hadn’t been overly evident for most of the night.

You’re not going to be finding the first half of this game on too many end-of-season highlight reels. It was football played so cautiously by both sides that it lacked contests, even forward entries, and consequently, any sort of excitement whatsoever.

Both sides had totalled just 19 inside 50 entries between them come quarter-time, by which time Collingwood led having kicked just one goal for the quarter, one more at least than their opponent.

Maintaining possession was the focus for the Pies and Dogs, and so there were too many spells involving either team simply chipping the ball around their half-back line, looking forlornly for an opportunity to switch play.

Even the one goal of the first quarter came from a Bulldog error rather than any Collingwood initiative, Steve Wallis making a hash of an attempt to centre the ball in the middle of the ground, the subsequent turnover leaving little Caleb Daniel one-out on the taller, stronger Jordan de Goey, and conceding a free kick and a goal as a result.

The Bulldogs had the odd chance, Marcus Bontempelli hitting the post, and Aaron Naughton sending a snap astray. But essentially it was 30 minutes which could have provided a great cure for insomnia.

Things sped up at least a little in the second term, Travis Varcoe getting the ball rolling for Collingwood only two minutes in.

The Dogs answered that via Toby McLean, then gave away a goal via a pretty generously-measured 50-metre penalty to Tom Phillips, Wallis again the culprit of a clanger.

When another stuff-up gifted the Pies another goal to Josh Thomas, Taylor Duryea turning it over for the Dogs this time with another ill-executed inboard chip pass, the gap had blown out to 17 points.

But it was the Bulldogs who had the better of general play at least in the final 10 minutes or so of the half, and impressive youngster Bailey Smith’s checkside snap kept the Dogs very much in this contest.

And that momentum rolled into the third term, too. Key forward Aaron Naughton began to clunk some huge marks. Marcus Bontempelli, already as good as any player on the ground, did even more damage with 10 third-term touches.

They booted the first three goals of the quarter from just five forward entries. By then, the Pies had gone inside 50 a dozen times for just two behinds.

When Wallis redeemed himself with a nice curling snap, it was five goals to one for the quarter, an 11-point lead, and Collingwood seemingly in all sorts of trouble. Yet even then, the Magpies were on paper, either in front of or at least on even terms with the Dogs in just about every statistical category.

Except one. The ruck, where the Pies (read Brodie Grundy) had racked up a massive advantage in the hit-outs (43-4). What they desperately needed was to make that start counting for something. And finally, they did.

The hit-out count finished 60-6. But in the last quarter, it actually counted for something, two of Collingwood’s five goals in the last term from centre bounce wins, the Pies winning the centre clearances 5-1 for the term after trailing the Dogs 5-6 at three-quarter time, and Mason Cox, who’d barely been a factor, suddenly looming large metaphorically as well as literally.

Cox’s first goal, which restored the Pies’ lead, came from just his third mark of the evening. He fluffed a chance for a repeat only a few minutes later when he tried to dish off instead of slamming through his second from only 35 metres.

But suddenly, the big American was everywhere. And in the finish, he was pivotal to the clinching of this win, once Josh Thomas had cleverly bounced one through to put Collingwood nine points up with just over five minutes left on the clock.

From the restart, the Pies won the clearance, went long, and without the time for the Dogs to push numbers back, Cox was left to contest against two defenders, the contest halved and Collingwood’s extra number Jaidyn Stephenson tearing into an open goal.

The final nail in the Bulldog coffin was an action replay, Cox successfully bringing the ball to ground, Jamie Elliott successfully finishing the contest off from the resultant crumbs.

Collingwood had kicked three goals in just over four minutes to ice a contest that for a bit over a half neither team seemed daring enough to seize.

Evidence again, perhaps, that for all the analysis that goes into AFL teams’ preparations and game plans these days, sometimes, long and direct just gets the job done better, and certainly quicker.

COLLINGWOOD 1.2 4.6 6.9 11.12 (78)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 0.3 2.7 7.8 9.10 (64)

GOALS – Collingwood: Phillips 2, Thomas 2, Stephenson 2, Elliott 2, De Goey, Varcoe, Cox. Western Bulldogs: Lloyd 2, Dickson, Naughton, Dunkley, Smith, McLean, Wallis, Suckling.
BEST – Collingwood: Grundy, Phillips, Adams, Pendlebury, Roughead. Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, Hunter, Macrae, Daniel, Suckling, Crozier.
INJURIES – Collingwood: Beams (illness) replaced in selected side by Brown, Mayne (corked glute).
REPORTS – Brody Mihocek (Collingwood) reported for striking Tom Liberatore (Western Bulldogs) in the second quarter
UMPIRES: Ryan, Hosking, O’Gorman
CROWD: 59,257 at the MCG