Collingwood put a Gold Coast outfit to the sword under the Docklands roof on Saturday night, setting up the commanding 71-point win with a dominant first term that saw them jump to a seven-goal lead.
The Pies' win was their first at Etihad Stadium since 2014, and followed their strong performance against the Western Bulldogs last week when they fell short by three points.
"We rate Gold Coast's speed, and they clearly picked a more outside, quicker team. On the fast track (of Etihad Stadium), we didn't want it to turn into a running race. We controlled our ball use really well and we were able to keep the ball in our front half more often than not," coach Nathan Buckley said after the game.
Touk Miller backed up his 39-disposal effort from last week's loss to Essendon with another 32 touches for the SUNS, while Aaron hall provided some moments of zip with his 26 touches. There were few other winners for the SUNS, who had 129 fewer disposals and 18 fewer inside 50 entries (61 to 43) than the Pies.
Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade said the level of injuries to hit the SUNS has meant they are mentally and physically fatigued as the end of the season draws closer.
"We needed to use the ball as well as we could but we struggled in that area as well. We're struggling for run," Eade said.
"[Callum] Ah Chee shouldn't be playing, Tom Lynch is carrying a little bit at the moment. All our markers on a few of our guys [shows] we should be resting about six or seven of them. But we can't so we just have to push on and get up for net week."
The signs were ominous early. The Pies moved the ball with ease through their midfield, and sent it inside their forward-50 with next to no pressure. It saw them boot seven goals for the opening term to open up a 43-point lead at the first change, against a Gold Coast side that went goalless and was largely uncompetitive for the quarter.
Pendlebury has made much better teams look slow and out of position than this injury-hit SUNS line-up. But the poise he had to coolly turn onto his non-preferred right foot midway through the quarter and snap the Pies' fifth goal highlighted the lack of pressure by the SUNS.
The SUNS got their first goal less than a minute into the second term when Ryan Davis made the most of a 50-metre penalty, but that was their only major of the half to record their lowest half-time score (1.6) of the season – second lowest in the club's short history.
Collingwood continued to pick apart the SUNS in the second term, piling on another five goals to open a 68-point margin at the main break.
COLLINGWOOD 7.3 12.8 16.13 16.22 (118)
GOLD COAST 0.2 1.6 4.8 6.11 (47)
GOALS
Collingwood: White 3, De Goey 3, Crisp 2, Greenwood 2, Treloar, Smith, Crocker, Sidebottom, Phillips, Pendlebury
Gold Coast: Davis 2, Lynch 2, Martin, Wright
BEST
Collingwood: Grundy, White, Treloar, Crisp, Howe, Pendlebury, Smith, De Goey
Gold Coast: May, Miller, Lynch, Brooksby, Hall
INJURIES
Collingwood: Goldsack (foot) replaced in selected side by Williams, Moore (hamstring), De Goey (right foot)
Gold Coast: Lemmens (concussed)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Dalgleish, Hay, Mollison
Official crowd: 17,644 at Etihad Stadium
