Essendon, whatever their shortcomings, have found reserves of belief and pluck on Anzac Day in Brad Scott’s time, drawing a stunning game last year and getting overrun late in a ballistic 2023 match.

This game was viewed less optimistically than last year’s, not so much because of what the Bombers might produce, but due to Collingwood’s potent previous five games, among them an imposing defensive strangulation of the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.

Nick Daicos leads the victorious Pies from the ground.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

If you considered the names on paper – many premiership players, multiple Daicoses and seasoned pros on the Collingwood side compared to a much less experienced or capable Essendon – there was more cause to think the Magpies were capable of another demolition. There was one caveat – Anzac Day games have their own strange twists, and the underdog has a knack for rising and mounting an insurrection.

This game kept threatening to be one-sided, and on some measures it proved so. But the Bombers refused to yield until the final quarter, when the bombardment finally overwhelmed Scott’s men.

They were beaten in territory, conceding nearly 50 entries to the Pies to three-quarter-time. They weren’t as clean, were beaten in clearances and had far fewer marks inside their own scoring........

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