Josh Thomas turned plenty of heads with his five-goal haul in the Pies' big win over Carlton on the weekend.

He had the stats boffins at Collingwood Media comparing his effort to the other surprising tallies recorded by Magpies players in the past 30 years, like when Brodie Holland slotted eight goals against West Coast at the MCG in 2002 and when Andrew Tranquilli kicked six against the Eagles at the 'G in 1994.

Thomas's effort also had the boffins pondering the few players who have kicked five or more goals in a game for the Pies in recent seasons.

Thomas became the first Magpies player other than traditional forwards Travis Cloke, Alex Fasolo, Jamie Elliott, Ben Reid, Darcy Moore to kick five goals in a match since Dane Swan snared five in a win over the Giants in round 18, 2012.

Jarryd Blair also snared five in a win over the Blues at the 'G in round three, 2011, while Nathan Buckley kicked six against the Lions at the same venue in round 10, 2006.

Fasolo has done it twice, kicking five against Essendon in just his sixth game back in 2011, and a bag of six against the Tigers in round two, 2016.

A young Steele Sidebottom, meanwhile, kicked five against the Kangaroos in round seven, 2010.

Further back in time, Blake Caracella kicked bags of five in back-to-back games against West Coast and Hawthorn in 2005, and a young Alan Didak managed five against Hawthorn in round 19, 2002, and Geelong in round 11, 2005.

Speaking of traditional tall forwards, Scott Cummings played just five games for Collingwood, but kicked six in his first outing against Richmond in the opening round of the 2002 season.

Josh Fraser wasn't a traditional tall forward, but he still kicked five in a 108-point rout of Carlton in round 18, 2002.

Meanwhile, of the recognised key forwards, Chris Tarrant and Anthony Rocca kicked five or more 13 times in a Collingwood jumper. Dermott Brereton did so once in 1995, but the big one of them all, Saverio Rocca, managed the feat 39 times in his 156 games as a Magpie, 11 of which occurred before Tranquilli's feat in 1994.

Thomas is in unchartered territory when it comes to his career.

This is the first time he has played in Collingwood's first three matches of an AFL season, and he had never before kicked more than three goals in an AFL game.

Thomas' effort is a credit to his persistence and resilience, given he was drafted way back in 2009 and was later suspended for two seasons.

The 26-year-old has shown that after plenty of setbacks, he is intent on repaying the club's faith in him.

Josh Thomas was a happy man after booting five goals against the Blues