In a tale of two goalless key forwards at the MCG on Sunday, the honours went clearly to Port Adelaide and Charlie Dixon.
The Power gave Collingwood a two-goal head-start before clicking into gear and claiming a dominant 67-point victory over the hapless Magpies.
Port's mosquito fleet of Aaron Young and Jake Neade (four goals apiece), Chad Wingard (three) and Jarman Impey (one) combined for more than half of their winning score, but coach Ken Hinkley still went out of his way to laud the performance of Dixon.
In his first season with the Power, Dixon has taken his time to find his feet.
Hinkley said the former Gold Coast spearhead's impact on the 19.11 (125) to 7.16 (58) triumph went far beyond a stats sheet that read 14 disposals, three marks, four tackles and no goals.
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"I said to the boys in the rooms that it was nearly the best game he's played for us this year," said Hinkley.
"He's played some good footy and the small boys ... all hit the scoreboard in a big way but I thought a lot of that came off the back of his work.
"He's big and he gets monstered, he gets grabbed hold of and gets held onto.
"He doesn't get much help from a free-kick point of view but he just brings the ball to ground."
At the other end of the MCG all eyes were on Travis Cloke, who was back into the senior side for the first time since being dropped in April.
Cloke set up the opening goal for skipper Scott Pendlebury and never stopped trying.
But opposed to first-gamer Logan Austin he still looked a mere shadow of the man who won All-Australian honours in 2011 and 2013.
"Clokey was OK, he was serviceable - not too bad," said Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.
"We had quite a few who were not at the level they would have wanted to be.
"Clokey would be happy to be back but I'm sure he would want to contribute a bit more than that."
The Power led by 11 points at the first change, increasing that margin to 25 at halftime and 50 at three-quarter time.
Despite the cold and damp conditions, Collingwood would have been disappointed with the small crowd of 28,567.
It was a second straight MCG loss for the Magpies who slipped to a 4-7 win-loss record ahead of the annual Queen's Birthday clash with Melbourne.
The Power improved to 6-5 and will now return home to take on the Western Bulldogs at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday in a finals-shaping encounter.
