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Sport Nation
Magpies shine bright on special occasion
Nicholas Quinlan • April 25th, 2025 8:08 pm
Collingwood remains on top of the AFL ladder after a confident win against Essendon.
The Magpies would win 107 to 66 against the Bombers in the 30th clash between the two sides in front of 92,044 fans at the MCG on what is a momentous day on the Australian calendar.
Coming into the game, much was made of superstar midfielder Nick Daicos being made captain in the wake of Darcy Moore's injury which saw him ruled out for this match.
And he did not disappoint as he opened Collingwood’s account with a captain’s goal from the 50-metre arc.
On SEN's commentary, Gerard Healy was not surprised that Daicos found a path to goal despite Essendon’s Zach Merrett having the match-up on him to start the match.
“Whenever I hear, a coach say, he’s going to do something different with Nick Daicos, I do not worry,” Healy jested.
Hawks legend Dermott Brereton would go further in his praise of Collingwood’s youngest captain in 57 years.
“I just wonder, is there any other sportsmen in Australia playing a team sport, whose life is better than Nick Daicos at the moment?” Brereton pondered.
The Magpies then continued to dominate the rest of the quarter as they would pull out to a 15-point lead at quarter time and then kicked the first two goals in the second quarter for a game-high lead of 27 points.
Healy couldn’t quite believe how Collingwood was able to move the ball with ease considering the rainy conditions.
“I don’t even think Collingwood have even worked out its raining yet,” Healy said.
“They don’t care.”
However, Essendon would come back in fighting fashion scoring four unanswered goals to find themselves only three points behind and put the Magpies under pressure.
“They (Collingwood) should have had this game wrapped up by quarter time,” Healy said.
“They came out, they were playing Collingwood type football, Harlem Globetrotter type football in the first part of the second quarter, didn’t get the score on the board and all of a sudden, a couple of fortuitous events for Essendon and they are believing.”
At one stage of the third quarter, the Bombers even lead the match.
But it seemed that the Magpies were able to return to their first-quarter form as noted by Brereton at three-quarter time.
“Collingwood got their game happening again and they were the team we expected them to be,” Brereton said.
“Better ball usage, better ball winning and more control of the footy and put the gap in the scoreline.”
In the post-game, Brereton put it simply that Collingwood were the better side.
"Class difference," he said simply.
"Their workers who worked hard are better than Essendon's workers who work hard and their class finishers who finish with class are better than Essendon's class finishers."
Collingwood will play Geelong next week at the MCG.
