1. It's always nice to get a few early touches, especially in your first game for a club. Former Brisbane defender Alex Witherden has needed to bide his time for an opportunity, but made his club debut and had three possessions in the opening couple of minutes which helped him settle into the defensive structure. He finished with 30 possessions, nine marks and gained 486 metres in an impressive showing in his first appearance in the blue and gold.

2. The growth of Jarrod Brander has been one of the most positive developments in the last three weeks. The 195cm utility player is building belief and settling into his role on the wing. He was involved in a couple of key plays, picking off kicks from Collingwood star Jack Crisp, both resulting in goals. In the first quarter Crisp attempted to switch play when deep in defence, shanked the kick, Brander marked and then converted a set shot. More critical – in what was THE key moment in the game – Crisp sent a ball inside the attacking arc to skipper Scott Pendlebury in the last term. The Pies had edged within 21 points and another would have lifted tension levels. But Brander anticipated it perfectly, intercepted the footy, ran it out of defence and kicked a probing ball to Jake Waterman, who in turn found Dom Sheed. The loping left footer converted the first of his three goals in as many minutes against the trend of play.

3. Much of the impetus for any victory falls on the midfield and the Eagles in the engine room were outstanding. Andrew Gaff, Jack Redden, Tim Kelly and Dom Sheed combined for more than 130 possessions and their collective effort was exceptional, combining with Nic Naitanui to wrest back control after Collingwood had started strongly. Naitanui and Nathan Vardy manufactured +11 hit outs to advantage and that helped the Eagles finish +8 in clearances and in turn meant the ball was heading to attack rather than defence. Redden, in his 100^th game for the Eagles, accumulated a career-high 37 disposals.

4. The aerial expertise of the Eagles forwards presented Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley with a conundrum. He started all-Australian defender Darcy Moore in attack and while he looked threatening early he struggled to impact in the middle part of the game. At the other end Jack Darling and Oscar Allen combined to take seven marks inside 50 to kick five goals apiece. Buckley clearly adopted the view that he needed Moore in attack to kick a winning score and resisted the temptation to send him back, even after Jeremy Howe went down with a serious hamstring injury.

5. With star midfielders Luke Shuey and Elliot Yeo sidelined, Liam Duggan had spent a bit of time in the midfield in the first four rounds. Last night he moved back in defence as close mate Jackson Nelson was deployed in a run-with role in the midfield and Duggan relished the switch to half-back. He collected a career-high 36 possessions, took 13 marks and gained a massive 752 metres for his team.