Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has likened unlikely hero Jaidyn Stephenson to Hawthorn premiership duo Cyril Rioli and Paul Puopolo after his five-goal haul in the landslide win over Adelaide.
After failing to trouble the scorers in his first three AFL games, Stephenson, the No.6 pick in last November's draft, slotted five majors from his seven kicks to leave the Crows shellshocked.
"That (five goals) is not going to happen every week, is it?" Buckley said.
"The consistent thing with Jaidyn has been his work rate and his willingness to pressure.
"He's got speed which is not a commodity that we've got in abundance on our list, comparatively.
"A lot of his pressure is chasing pressure because he closes the distance so quickly.
"When you've got a player like that around, not unlike a Cyril Rioli or Paul Puopolo for Hawthorn, you never know when they're going to get you.
"I think Stevo puts that sort of pressure on."
While Stephenson applied the icing, the foundation was built by Collingwood's midfield engine room.
Brodie Grundy (33 touches, 40 hitouts) destroyed Sam Jacobs in ruck, Steele Sidebottom (a career-high 43 possessions, 26 contested) emphatically lowered Rory Sloane's colours and Adam Treloar (36 disposals, 11 tackles) ran hard both ways.
Incredibly, the trio combined for more clearances (34) than Adelaide managed as a team (33).
"He's in a rich vein of form, Brodie," Buckley said.
"It's the first time we've been able to really connect well from ruckman to first possession.
"We've been winning hitouts significantly but losing clearances so we've done some work and that's coming together.
"Tonight was pretty hard to fault."
