MELBOURNE 2.4 Â 9.6 Â 11.7 Â 16.8 (104)
COLLINGWOOD 4.4 Â 5.4 Â 6.6 Â 8.10 (58)
Goals: Melbourne: D Kent 3 J Hogan 3 M Gawn 3 J Watts 2 B Kennedy C Petracca J Trengove J Viney N Jones. Collingwood: M Cox 2 B Grundy B Maynard J White L Greenwood S Sidebottom T Varcoe.
Best:Â Melbourne: Vince, Gawn, Jones, Tyson, Kennedy, T. McDonald, Bugg. Collingwood: Pendlebury, Treloar, Howe, Reid, Varcoe.
Umpires: Scott Jeffery, Mathew Nicholls, Brent Wallace.
Official Crowd: 60,158 at MCG.
It had been nine years since Melbourne had beaten Collingwood in what, in lieu of much success, had become a de facto grand final – a draw six years ago was the closest the Demons had come and most of the losses were by plenty.
More Sport Videos
- Video duration
- 01:45
AFL plays of round 12
- Video duration
- 00:42
Has Nat Fyfe grown?
- Video duration
- 00:32
Wright: Mitchell always heading to West Coast
- Video duration
- 03:39
AFL trade period explained
- Video duration
- 01:35
AFL Women's teams ready to train after first draft
- Video duration
- 02:07
What will happen to Jobe's Brownlow
- Video duration
- 00:00
Cameron McCarthy suits up for Freo
- Video duration
- 01:20
West Coast CEO on Sam Mitchell
AFL plays of round 12
Bontempelli's star on the rise, Dangerfield beyond adjectives, Adelaide are genuine contenders, Jack Steven stands tall as Saints skipper and Stevie J has competition from three-quarter time trick shot.
The prospects for this Queen's Birthday clash were better than at any time since, with Melbourne in reasonable nick despite having lost three of their past four games, the Magpies in anything but.
Yet the ghosts of old setbacks on the big stage lingered, even if just for a little while.
Melbourne dominated the opening stages, so much so that after a few minutes they had racked up 37 disposals to Collingwood's paltry nine. For a while, they had the territory, too. But Melbourne couldn't make it count.
Chris Dawes missed when he shouldn't have. So did Bernie Vince. It was 1.3 to no score. And then, as so often happens in these situations, Collingwood made them pay.
The Magpies booted the next three goals, and four out of five, their delivery into the forward 50 so much more efficient.
Mason Cox had the first, converting a lovely pass from Scott Pendlebury. Brayden Maynard made it too after a similarly precise ball from Steele Sidebottom. Pendlebury made it two goal assists when he chipped the ball over the top for Jesse White.
And Sidebottom gave Collingwood a two-goal break when he got on the end of another dinky little chip from Travis Varcoe.
That was the margin at the first break. But perhaps a pertinent statistic was the one showing that despite the deficit, Melbourne had 31 more disposals for the term. Because when the Demons started to clean up their efficiency, that weight of possession really began to tell.
It was former captain Jack Trengove who got the ball rolling, kicking the first of the second quarter within 90 seconds of the restart. Varcoe restored the Pies' edge, but from that point it was all Melbourne.
The Demons would kick the last six goals of the quarter, five coming in a 13-minute burst, to take a stranglehold on the game.
Big Max Gawn, playing more like a small forward than a lumbering ruckman, had an amazing term with 10 possessions and two goals, the first a "gimme" from the goal line but the second a very athletic piece of crumbing.
Spearhead Jesse Hogan weighed in with a couple more, and still had time for some aggro, playing most of the quarter with his jumper shredded like he'd been in a street fight.
Christian Petracca looked polished and powerful at the same time, his spin and quick snap producing another goal. Former Magpie Ben Kennedy was everywhere, picking up 11 of his own touches for the term. And mainstays Nathan Jones and Bernie Vince did what they seem to do every week, the pair with 40 touches between them just to half-time.
At half-time, Melbourne jogged off to the rapturous applause of a home fan base that, remarkably, seemed to outnumber and out-vocalise the much-vaunted Magpie army. What Collingwood faithful there were didn't have much to be excited about, held to just one goal for the quarter after a promising opening.
There was just one more brief flutter for nervous Demon fans, a 15-minute spell in the third term when Melbourne got a little too cute for their own good with handball, continually giving the ball back.
Yet so lacking in confidence are Collingwood right now, and so cumbersome their forward structure this day, that the Pies never seriously threatened to charge back into the contest, despite remaining in touch on the scoreboard.
Even an early goal to Brodie Grundy in the final term failed to create much of a spark. And when that was answered by Dean Kent within a couple of minutes, any signs of life in Collingwood were extinguished.
Thus began party time. Jack Watts, tireless all day, chipped in with a couple of late ones and perhaps thought briefly back to his first senior game on this same day seven years ago, and how the tables had finally turned.
Kennedy delighted in hammering a nail in his old side's coffin. And Gawn kicked his third of the afternoon.
It was a rout by the finish, Melbourne extending the gap out to 55 points before a late one to Cox, a goal greeted with almost stony silence, as most Pies' fans had long since cut their losses and headed home.
The Demons, as you would, stayed to a man, woman and child. It had been a long time between Queen's Birthday drinks. It was part celebration, part exorcism, and a very obvious statement about how completely the tables between these clubs had been turned.
MELBOURNE v COLLINGWOOD
Bernie Vince (Melb)…………….9
Max Gawn (Melb) ………………9
Nathan Jones (Melb)…………….8
Dom Tyson (Melb)………………7
Ben Kennedy (Melb)…………….7