Collingwood pulled out a thrilling late victory over the Brisbane Lions on Sunday night, but coach Nathan Buckley left the Gabba far from pleased.
First-year player Jaidyn Stephenson's goal saw Collingwood squeeze a seven-point victory over the winless Lions after former Magpie Dayne Beams had kicked a 50-yard goal with just over two minutes on the clock to put the scores level.
Chris Mayne's behind and Stephenson's run into into an empty goal then iced the contest 19.7 (121) to 18.6 (114).
The 21,850 people at the Gabba were treated to a pulsating contest as the visitors repeatedly kicked ahead but the Lions kept pulling themselves back into the game.
The four points was not enough to leave Collingwood's coach happy though.
"That's the worst we've defended all year," Buckley said.
"We were good enough to show enough pluck to get it done ultimately but there's a lot to look at that we won't like on tape.
"I can't say it was pleasant viewing from our perspective.
One thing the coach was fairly positive about was the injury to Scott Pendlebury, who left the game in the third quarter with a sprained ankle.
"We tried to go down to the rooms and get him up but we'll know more about that in the next day or two," Buckley said.
The eventual entertainment could not have been predicted at the end of the first quarter which Brisbane Lions lost as they have every opening term this season.
The messy quarter saw neither side impress with classy goals from Jordan de Goey - one of his five - Pendlebury and Jeremy Howe rare bright spots as the Magpies took an eight-point lead.
Next came a 13-goal deluge in the second term shoot-out, even if poor defending was as attributable as daring attack.
The Lions kicked four goals in a row to take the lead for the first time midway through the second stanza but three at the other end from Josh Thomas and one from Darcy Moore restored a comfortable advantage, before Dayne Zorko, Charlie Cameron and another from Taylor reduced the lead to three at the long break.
Taylor scored two more in the third but Collingwood had the last word with Stephenson marking smartly to give them an eight-point advantage going into the last.
Previously out of form Zorko was granted the luxury of not being tagged, and took full advantage grabbing 34 possessions and kicking four, the last with an impudent 35-yard check-side kick.
Another goal from Daniel McStay and Beams' major looked like setting the Lions up to break their duck before the Magpies' late rally.
In contrast to his opposite, Chris Fagan was very happy with his side's performance labelling it the best of the 29 games he has led the Lions.
"I really rate that performance by us tonight, in terms of our development, in my short time at the club that was probably our best performance," Fagan said.
