Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was full of praise for Darren Jolly after the ruckman held his own against West Coast duo Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui during the Magpies' three-point win at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.

Jolly, who rucked for most of the game, finished with 16 possessions, four marks and 23 hit-outs.

"It was huge," Buckley said of Jolly's effort. "His game-time was 87 per cent."

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Jolly was sporting a huge icepack on his groin after the game, but it wasn't a concern for the coach.

"Darren's body is in great shape," Buckley said. "I think he's a bit of a workhorse in that regards, so I'm not surprised to see performances like today."

Jolly understandably began to tire late in the last quarter, so key forward Chris Dawes took over in the ruck for the final four minutes of the match.

"He had a few defensive 50 stoppages to take care of," Buckley explained. "He fulfilled his role pretty well."

The Magpies controlled the early stages of the contest, racing to a three-goal lead midway through the opening quarter.

However, they had slipped six points behind by half-time.

"It was a game of momentum - either ours or theirs," Buckley said. "I think that's what happens when you play good sides.

"I don't think we were great at being able to halt momentum when the Eagles had it, and, to be honest, we might not have maximised ours."

Cloke's confidence rising.

Collingwood's narrow victory came after the Magpies slipped behind with 10 minutes to go, then regained the lead thanks to a great goal from Dayne Beams.

It stretched their current winning streak to nine. It was also their seventh consecutive win over the Eagles.

"It was a bit of an arm-wrestle, and ultimately one that we're very happy to get the result in," Buckley said.

"I would've thought that they controlled the territorial battle. They had the ball in their forward half a lot more than we did.

"So, really, it was backs against the wall for us for the majority of the match.

"We were very happy to find a way to win when we didn't play the game on our terms for as long as we would have liked to."

The epic contest did little to dispel the popular theory that both teams will be in the top four at the end of the home and away season.

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"You'd probably say that the game had finals intensity about it. It was pretty full-on," Magpies midfielder Jarryd Blair said.

"I think the blokes were pretty gassed by the end of it. It was an intense game."

The result has propelled the Magpies to the top of the ladder, although Buckley was keen to play down that aspect of the outcome.

"We're not sitting here thinking we've won and everything's perfect," he said.

"There were some positives out of that, but there's some lessons and some things we need to learn to make sure we're better next time around."

Collingwood's next assignment is a home game against Fremantle at the MCG in seven days' time.

"I rate them as a side defensively, and they've got some massive strengths that we'll need to counter," Buckley said.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs