Tim Membrey kicked three goals in the opening quarter as Collingwood got off to a flyer against Port Adelaide. (Getty Images: Quinn Rooney)
Collingwood has taken Port Adelaide to the cleaners in a thumping 91-point win at the MCG.
The Magpies responded to last week's loss with a wholly convincing performance against a hapless Power.
Meanwhile the Western Bulldogs held off a spirited North Melbourne in a win marred by a shocking head knock suffered by young Dog Luke Cleary.
Earlier on Saturday, Brisbane claimed another scalp against Sydney, holding on to beat the Swans by four-points at the SCG in a thrilling grand final rematch.
Prior to that match, Geelong ran up a huge score against a leaky Fremantle at Kardinia Park, running out 78 point winners.
Follow the live blog below, keep up to date with all the latest stats in our ScoreCentre, and tune in to our live radio coverage.
Key Events
-
Magpies made tackling a focus tonight: Houston
-
FT: Depleted Bulldogs claim tough 16-point win over Roos
-
FT: Collingwood routs Port Adelaide by 91 points
AFL Saturday scoreboard
That's it from the blog tonight!
Some big winners today and some very concerning losers as well. Round one is already overflowing with storylines and you can be sure a few more will be added to the list tomorrow.
Thanks for joining Chris and I today! We'll be back for Sunday footy tomorrow, and hope for you company then.
Match report: Bulldogs beat Roos as head knock takes shine off
(Getty Images)
An undermanned Western Bulldogs have claimed a hard-fought 16-point win over a gutsy North Melbourne in a game overshadowed by a horror fourth-quarter collision.
In sweltering conditions under the roof at Docklands Stadium, the fast-starting Bulldogs took an early lead, kicking five of the first six goals and never let it slip, claiming a 17.11 (113) to 14.13 (97) win.
But the biggest talking point could be a nasty collision between Kangaroo Jackson Archer and Bulldog Luke Cleary.
Cleary was getting down low to pick up the ball, with Jacob Konstanty in pursuit, when Archer flung himself forward and went over the top of the Bulldog, collecting him in the head with his knee.
Cleary, 23, was knocked out and play was stopped for several minutes as he received medical attention before being taken off on a stretcher.
The incident appears certain to come under scrutiny from the match review officer.
Luke Beveridge's Bulldogs were without skipper Marcus Bontempelli (calf), Adam Treloar (calf), Cody Weightman (knee), and Liam Jones (hamstring).
Forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is also currently unavailable for selection after spending time away from the club for personal reasons.
Ed Richards (30 disposals, one goal), Bailey Dale (29 touches, two goals), stand-in skipper Tom Liberatore and recruit Matt Kennedy were busy.
Laitham Vandermeer and Aaron Naughton (three goals apiece) hit the scoreboard along with Ryley Sanders and Lachie McNeil (both two).
Kangaroos spearhead Nick Larkey kicked five goals after coming into the game under an injury cloud.
North big man Tristan Xerri (51 hitouts) dominated the ruck against Tim English and Sam Darcy to give first use to Tom Powell (27 touches), Harry Sheezel (31) and Jy Simpkin (30).
Cameron Zurhaar kicked 1.4 in a frustrating day in front of goal while Paul Curtis booted three.
AAP
Match report: Magpies belt poor Power at the MCG
(Getty Images)
All-Australian defender Dan Houston has returned to haunt his former side as Collingwood emphatically opened their account for the AFL season with a 91-point thrashing of Port Adelaide.
After being run ragged by GWS in the opening round, the rampant Magpies were full of energy in a 21.10 (136) to 6.9 (45) win over the Power at the MCG on Saturday night.
It was the Pies' biggest winning margin of premiership coach Craig McRae's five-season tenure and Port's heaviest defeat in 275 games under Ken Hinkley.
All eyes were on Houston, who forced a trade out of Port Adelaide last October and made his belated Collingwood debut after completing a lengthy suspension.
The 27-year-old half-back was up to the task as one of the Magpies' best afield with 27 disposals, 10 intercept possessions and six score involvements.
Steele Sidebottom (31 disposals), Patrick Lipinski (24) and Jack Crisp (26) were also influential in a dominant team display, while Tim Membrey (four), Brody Mihocek and Dan McStay (three each) were the best of the goal-kickers.
Nick Daicos gradually wore down Willem Drew's tag to finish with 26 disposals and a goal.
Flat six days earlier against the Giants, Collingwood dialled up their tackle pressure and dominated contested possession and clearances when it mattered early in the match.
The Pies also enjoyed a landslide 65-47 advantage in inside-50s.
AAP
Magpies made tackling a focus tonight: Houston
(Getty Images)
One Collingwood game, one win for Dan Houston. Against his former team, no less.
Houston chatted with Fox Footy after the game for a window into his thoughts and the team's plan.
"I've got a lot of respect for the club and it was a long week, but I'm so happy to be at Collingwood and to get the win.
"Last week we had something like 39 tackles. It was on the whiteboard this week, the boys lifted and we rocked up in numbers and got after them."
For the record Collingwood finished up with 68 tackles tonight. A huge improvement on last week's 38.
FT: Depleted Bulldogs claim tough 16-point win over Roos
(Getty Images)
The Luke Cleary incident late has taken some of the sting out of this for the Western Bulldogs, but that is indeed a very encouraging win for a team missing so many key cogs.
North Melbourne threw everything at the Dogs except the towel, but were unable to stop the Bulldogs ball movement for most of the night. A lot to like for North, but it's a defeat and they can't be brushed off this year.
But the Dogs are up and running. Every win they can bank now before the stars come back will be worth their weight in gold come the end of the year.
FT: Collingwood routs Port Adelaide by 91 points
(Getty Images)
They couldn't quite crack the ton, but it matters little in the end. It's been a bloodbath at the MCG, the perfect response for the Magpies after Opening Round and the worst way imaginable for Port Adelaide and Ken Hinkley to begin their season.
There isn't really much summing up you can do for a game like that. Collingwood was better at everything. Port Adelaide was really poor, unable to match the Magpies in any meaningful facet of the game.
How quickly things can change in footy. The mood at Collingwood has flipped entirely in the space of one game.
Bulldogs's Luke Cleary is knocked out in a horrible clash
The game has stopped at Docklands due to a sickening collision which has left Luke Cleary down and out of the game.
The ball was in dispute at North Melbourne's half forward line, and Luke Cleary was always the front-runner to win it. Jackson Archer came streaming in from the other direction but was always getting their second, and in the process has hit Cleary high and knocked him out.
Cleary is being stretchered off now to a relieved round of applause. Silence had engulfed the stadium before that.
Paul Curtis has three goals in the last quarter for North
They've come around a series of answering goals from the Bulldogs, so the lead remains at 20 points, but he has been a bright spark for the Roos late in the game.
Again, at risk of repeating myself, I don't think offence will be an issue for North Melbourne this season. But if they can't sort things out going the other way, progress will be minimal.
A bit of Bobby Hill razzle dazzle
The Magpies are taking turns having their fun at the moment, and this time the music stopped while Bobby Hill had the footy in his hands.
Not many better players to watch when the tricks are coming out.
Brody Mihochek gets the Pies' lead out to 83
Collingwood would have had tougher training sessions than this over the last few months. The Pies have just walked the ball from end to end without an opponent getting within 10 metres of them.
As much heat as the Pies copped last week, the Power need and then some. This has been so meek, so disappointing.
Aaron Naughton makes it three in a row for the Dogs
And suddenly this tense game is getting away from the Kangaroos.
Again Kennedy was key. He had the poise at half-forward to wait for the right option and the skill to lace out Naughton on his left foot. Naughton went back and snapped truly, making for a 25-point lead.
Is that the ball game?
Lachie McNeil kicks another for the Bulldogs!
Again the Dogs are able to go end to end and score on the Roos. They just wanted it more at half-back, but it was the kick off the ground from Matt Kennedy to find McNeil alone inside 50 that set the goal up.
Kennedy has had a fantastic debut here, and the lead is back out to 19 points.
Joel Freijah kicks one for the Bulldogs after 20 seconds
That doesn't help North Melbourne.
The Bulldogs surge the footy out of the stoppage (sneaky little Libba throw in the mix for good measure) and find their young star winger on the move.
Great finish on the run from Freijah, big start for the Doggies.
Match report: Lions come from behind to claim thrilling grand final rematch
Levi Ashcroft picked up 25 disposals in a stunning debut for the Brisbane Lions. (Getty Images)
Brisbane has opened its AFL premiership defence with a dramatic four-point win over Sydney, holding on in a scrappy contest that was marred by another head knock for Brandon Starcevich.
The Lions conceded the opening four goals, seized control then withstood a final-quarter fightback, further demoralising the same opposition they crushed by 10 goals in the 2024 grand final.
Isaac Heeney's late goal put the match in the balance with 63 seconds remaining, but Brisbane stood up in a frantic finish to prevail 12.14 (86) to 12.10 (82).
Starcevich, who suffered a concussion in a pre-season game, was helped off the field in Saturday's fourth term after an accidental clash of heads with Sydney's Justin McInerney.
Perennially underrated forward Zac Bailey was arguably best on ground, kicking four goals in the absence of late scratching Charlie Cameron (tight calf).
Cameron's omission and the first-term substitution of livewire Kai Lohmann, who suffered an apparent ankle injury, forced Chris Fagan to rework plans for a new-look forward line and the void left by retired talisman Joe Daniher.
At times it looked highly unlikely the Lions would kick a winning score.
But Bailey stepped up, while Dayne Zorko and Logan Morris also produced goals in the third term that were worthy of any highlight reel.
Ruck Oscar McInerney, last year's hard-luck story after suffering a shoulder injury in the Lions' preliminary final, Jarrod Berry, Josh Dunkley and debutant Levi Ashcroft were also influential for the visitors.
Dual Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale failed to touch the ball in either the second or third quarters as tagger James Jordon curbed his influence.
The loss against the Lions made it two losses in two starts for the Swans so far this season. (Getty Images)
The Swans threw the kitchen sink at the reigning premiers in a game that, because of multiple turnovers, errors and questionable decision-making, often felt like the antithesis of a grand final.
That is to be expected from any fixture in mid-March, let alone one played in the hottest part of an unseasonably warm day in which the temperature in some parts of Sydney hit 38C.
Sydney stars Chad Warner and Nick Blakey were among the Swans guilty of uncharacteristic mistakes and dropped marks, while the Lions were likewise rusty and fumbly at key junctures.
But, if measured by the result being in the balance for as long as possible, it was a far more exciting spectacle than the clubs' previous meeting.
Swans coach Dean Cox moved down to the boundary line during the game, in an effort to rally his side that is now 0-2 and faces Fremantle in Perth next week.
A poor turnover from Matt Roberts, whose kick in defence picked out Lions gun Dunkley and gifted the visitors a decisive goal in the arm-wrestle of a final term, was particularly costly.
AAP
3QT: Magpies demolishing Port and lead by 70 points
(Getty Images)
We're on triple-digit watch at the MCG. The Magpies are doing as they please against the Power and look a good bet to add to this margin significantly.
Ten goals in a row was where the streak ended. Port Adelaide is not offering any opposition at all.
3QT: Bulldogs hanging on to seven-point lead against Roos
(Getty Images)
Nick Larkey is paid a dubious mark on the siren, but makes no mistake for his fifth goal! This one is alive at Docklands!
The Bulldogs owned the ball for the back end of that quarter but haven't been able to put the Roos away. Now the lead is just seven points and the Kangas have belief.
It might be a drubbing up the road, but this one could go either way.
Collingwood has kicked nine goals in a row
(Getty Images)
It's tough to watch for Port Adelaide fans, and has long since gotten out of hand in this third quarter. It's a Magpies procession and Port have been miles off the pace.
Given the difference in performance for Collingwood from last week to this, you have to wonder what sort of advantage playing that extra first game is. I can guarantee Port Adelaide won't be this bad again next week.
Collingwood end to end with the set play!
That was magnificent footy from the Magpies! One out of the preseason playbook from the kick in!
Jeremy Howe went straight up the middle and had the rest of the team on the same page. Within three touches, Brody Mihochek was streaming into an open goal for a gorgeous goal.
It's a belting at the MCG.
A rare pair of Collingwood goals to Brayden Maynard!
How about this! Two out of nowhere for the Pies' defender!
The first came from an advantage from a free kick. Everyone was begging him to stop, and to let Lachie Schultz take the kick he'd earned, but Brayden had other ideas.
The second was a classic long bomb from 50 after getting a loose ball out the back of a stoppage. He's got a fair left peg on him, and he's put the lead out to 51 points. It's all Collingwood now.
The ABC of SPORT
Sports content to make you think… or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered each Saturday.Your information is being handled in accordance with the ABC Privacy Collection Statement.