WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n West Coast got to within 10 points twice in this fourth quarter, only for Collingwood to steady and kick away both times. <\/p>\n The Eagles challenged the Magpies in a shootout first half; the sides combining for 19 goals as the visitors took just a six-point lead into the main change. <\/p>\n But a trademark high-pressure Collingwood third term set the sides apart, kicking five goals to three as Craig McRae\u2019s side gained stoppage ascendancy. <\/p>\n Without Jordan De Goey, Scott Pendlebury, Pat Lipinski, Harry Perryman and Jeremy Howe, Nick Daicos stepped up in typical fashion with 39 disposals, 10 clearances, 722 metres gained, 12 score involvements and a goal. <\/p>\n Brady Hough tried to play a negating role on Daicos, but Collingwood\u2019s little champion was at his irresistible best. <\/p>\n Forwards Dan McStay, Tim Membrey and Lachie Schultz were all impactful, each kicking three goals as the Pies kicked 100+ points for just the fifth time this year. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, a corked left thigh restricted Eagles star Harley Reid, who required medical treatment several times on Sunday after a heavy first-quarter collision with Collingwood ruckman Darcy Cameron. <\/p>\n The Pies\u2019 triumph means they can\u2019t fall out of the 10, and if Carlton loses on Sunday night, they can\u2019t finish the regular season lower than ninth on the ladder. <\/p>\n THE 3-2-1 (what we learned) with Catherine Healey at Optus Stadium …<\/p>\n 3. DAICOS DELIVERS ANOTHER MATCH-WINNER<\/p>\n Who else but Brownlow Medal favourite Nick Daicos to stand up and deliver a win his side desperately needed?<\/p>\n Daicos proved unstoppable in his dazzling display that\u2019s sure to see another 3 votes coming his way.<\/p>\n Despite copping the Brady Hough tag for much of Sunday\u2019s match, Daicos piled on the pain at every opportunity.<\/p>\n Dual premiership Roo David King described Daicos as a \u201cproblem\u201d early on, and it was a problem West Coast couldn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he gets to 20 kicks Nick, they are 7-1,\u201d King explained.<\/p>\n Daicos was damaging in the middle, and with his team down in the second, it was the Pies young gun who delivered a brilliant goal to close Collingwood to within five points.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a class act \u2013 you can\u2019t stop the kid!\u201d Dwayne Russell praised.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t! It\u2019s impossible,\u201d Brad Johnson added.<\/p>\n King explained that Daicos ditched his tag moments before that goal by a bit of bench play.<\/p>\n \u201cHe outsmarted him \u2013 he went to the bench, stayed there for about 120 seconds, about two minutes. As the tagger came off, he\u2019s come back on,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n \u201cNow Hough\u2019s been stuck on the bench for four and a half minutes. And he\u2019s been allowed to do some damage.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s completely free Nick Daicos. There\u2019s a breakdown there. Even if Hough is not there \u2013 someone needs to take responsibility.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s only going to win the Brownlow by 15 votes \u2013 he\u2019s been hard to hide this year!\u201d<\/p>\n Premiership Eagle Will Schofield described Daicos as \u201cunstoppable\u201d at half time.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s getting tagged, he\u2019s getting tightly checked at stoppage and around the ground Hough is going to him,\u201d he said,<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s had 21 \u2013 9 of those contested. Kicked a goal and gave another off he probably would have kicked.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s probably the only player for Collingwood in that midfield given the outs they have that can take it away from West Coast and they still can\u2019t stop him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat an absolute champion he is. Brownlow Medal sewn up \u2013 we think we know that.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat he\u2019s done from a number one player on the ground point of view \u2013 he\u2019s done this nine times in a row now. Number one ranked player at half time.\u201d<\/p>\n Daicos\u2019 day ended with 39 disposals \u2013 17 contested, 12 score involvements, 10 clearances, more than 720m gained and a goal. <\/p>\n 2. INJURED REID REMAINS MID-FIELD\u2026 BUT WAS IT RIGHT CALL?<\/p>\n Harley Reid\u2019s day was soured in the opening minutes against the Pies on Sunday when he copped a stray knee to the left leg.<\/p>\n Clearly hobbled and battling a cork, Reid refused to give in.<\/p>\n And while his bravery to play through the pain can not be questioned, his ability in the midfield \u2013 rather than forward was.<\/p>\n \u201cThe coach spent a lot of time with him at three-quarter-time,\u201d David King shared.<\/p>\n \u201cHe pretty much spent the whole of the break just chatting with him: how do you want to play it out, what can you cope with, what can you do, we don\u2019t want to risk injury here, is it changing your gait and those sort of things \u2013 you\u2019d thrash out everything.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he had an eight-disposal third term \u2013 just the two kicks.<\/p>\n \u201cOne went about three metres and through the goals.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he\u2019s clearly impacted, and you just wonder what he can offer? They\u2019re going to have to score. Is it centre bounce and then forward, or what\u2019s his role?\u201d<\/p>\n Reid\u2019s first goal came in the third term at a time when the match had almost slipped away.<\/p>\n And his ability to break through the stoppage showed forward craft King believes West Coast should have taken advantage of.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s where he should stay in the forward 50,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not working in the middle of the ground. He can do the forward 50 stoppages!<\/p>\n \u201cHe can do centre bounces and then go forward if need be. This is what he can do.<\/p>\n \u201cReally clever play there to put a block on\u2026 looked like Gross who did that.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Harley Reid (in the middle) thing is not working \u2013 he\u2019s had one clearance in that time (since his cork).<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re better off getting a runner in there.\u201d<\/p>\n But Eagles coach Andrew McQualter was hesitant to send his star into attack, telling Fox Footy at half-time that Reid would only go forward \u201cif he has to\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe can\u2019t move! He\u2019s so vulnerable the other way,\u201d King warned.<\/p>\n Statistics show heading into Sunday\u2019s game that Reid had only been targeted 10 times for the year inside 50.<\/p>\n He finished Sunday\u2019s match with 30 disposals \u2013 11 coming in the final term, a second-best six clearances for West Coast and three tackles. <\/p>\n 1. BABY PIES SPREAD THEIR WINGS AS FINALS BECKON<\/p>\n It was an inexperienced Collingwood who headed west to take on the Eagles.<\/p>\n Already without the likes of skipper Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard and Jamie Elliott, the Magpies then lost more than 1250 games of AFL experience when Jordan de Goey, Pat Lipinski, Harry Perryman, Jeremy Howe and Scott Pendlebury all remained in Melbourne.<\/p>\n In came five players with a combined 58 games of AFL experience.<\/p>\n But the baby Magpies would not be overawed at an Optus Stadium known for its hostile crowd.<\/p>\n Despite the \u201cbasketball-like\u201d start for both sides, Collingwood were efficient in attack with 13 inside 50s for eight scores \u2013 and five of those goals.<\/p>\n But defensively, the Pies had to regroup at half-time after coughing up seven goals from 12 inside 50s.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you lose four of your starting back six, you\u2019re going to suffer from pain,\u201d David King warned.<\/p>\n \u201cCraig McRae would be furious with that number (of goals from inside 50s).<\/p>\n But for the second half it became \u201cBilly\u2019s backline\u201d as Frampton stood tall with his young teammates around him.<\/p>\n And the third term was when Collingwood were able to put the gap in the game that West Coast couldn\u2019t recover.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve found a gear the Magpies that the Eagles don\u2019t have,\u201d Dwayne Russell said on Fox Footy.<\/p>\n For just the fifth time in 2026 they hit the 100-point mark \u2013 and still with a quarter to go.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve really played some aggressive football, some powerful football,\u2019 King praised.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve been a little bit harder than the West Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe youngsters are clean, and that\u2019s the difference at the moment,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you look at both teams with the young talented stars out there, Collingwood have just been cleaner in this third term.<\/p>\n \u201cThey haven\u2019t fumbled at all.\u201d<\/p>\n And because of the efforts of those youngsters, Collingwood have now locked in a spot in the top 10 \u2013 and could even make a push for the top six in the final two games of the season. <\/p>\n Follow Eagles vs Magpies in our live blog below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Collingwood has clinched a finals berth after surviving West Coast 17.15 (117) to 15.8 (98) at Optus Stadium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-848993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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