Darcy Moore stars in familiar position as Collingwood snaps five-match skid with win over Kangaroos
Collingwood has broken a run of five consecutive losses by continuing North Melbourne's dreadful start to 2021.
Despite being challenged a number of times, the Magpies used a dominant second quarter to put a gap between themselves and the AFL's bottom-placed side, eventually running out 14. 10. (94) to 11. 10. (76) winners at Marvel Stadium.
After being trialled up forward over the last few weeks, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley finally sent Darcy Moore back to defence, where he was an All-Australian last year, and the move provided career-best results.
Moore finished with a remarkable 19 marks to go along with a career-high disposal count of 28, and Buckley's coaching maneuvers were praised by AFL great Nick Riewoldt.
Darcy Moore was brilliant in defence for Collingwood with 28 disposals and 19 marks Getty
"It's more than just a win for Collingwood, I think they've found some things," Riewoldt said on commentary for Fox Footy.
"(Josh) Daicos through the middle of the ground I think has been a real win. They know they can afford to have Scott Pendlebury spend more time in the forward half of the ground with (Jack) Crisp standing up through the middle.
There will be bigger challenges to come for them, but to isolate (Jordan) De Goey for huge parts of the game, they've really been able to get him the one on one's that he's been craving like he had in those big years in 2018 and the start of 2019.
"They've had some big wins from a coaching point of view today."
Jordan De Goey put on his best performance of the year with six goals up forward Getty
After being subjected to some heavy criticism over the last few weeks, De Goey was at his destructive best up forward with an equal career-best six-goal haul, while Brodie Grundy put together one of his best games with 25 disposals.
North Melbourne were gallant in defeat once again, and cut the five-goal half-time lead to a goal at the start of the third quarter, but eventually ran out of steam.
Aaron Hall was prolific through the middle of the ground for the Kangaroos, with a season-high 37 disposals, while captain Jack Ziebell added 30 touches of his own.
In his first match since being traded by Collingwod, Jaidyn Stephenson kicked two goals and collected 19 disposals for North Melbourne.
Jaidyn Stephenson catches up with old Collingwood teammate Chris Mayne after the win Getty
The match proved to be a brutal encounter, with three players failing to run out the contest due to injuries sustained in the match.
Collingwood duo Jordan Roughead and Nathan Murphy both finished the match with head-knocks, with Murphy substituted out due to a concussion in the third quarter.
Kangaroos youngster Aiden Bonar also failed to finish the match, after sustaining an ankle injury in the final quarter.
Collingwood will aim to secure consecutive wins for the first time this season when they travel to Sydney to face the Swans in Round Nine, while North Melbourne faces Hawthorn in Tasmania.
