Collingwood’s VFL side were the Pies’ success story of last week, knocking off the Coburg Lions in a brilliant Good Friday win.
With a squad full of AFL-listed players who didn’t travel to Brisbane for the previous night’s game, the Pies headed out to Coburg looking to notch their first win of the 2026 VFL season.
Things started slowly, with the away side trailing by 10 points at the first break, before the Pies unloaded in the second term with eight goals to two.
Three of those came from key forward Jack Buller – who finished with four for the match – while Charlie West and VFL-listed key Brynn Teakle were also crucial.
The second quarter blitz helped the Pies open up a 28-point lead at the main break, however the tide turned again in the third with Coburg keeping their opponents goalless to reduce the margin to seven points.
With a quarter to go, the Pies were in need of a lift and found it almost immediately, with Teakle and first-year forward Jai Saxena both kicking their third goals of the day early in the last quarter, before Buller’s fourth put the result beyond doubt.
A brilliant major late in the fourth quarter from Angus Anderson put the cherry on top of both the result and the 22-year-old’s day, with the midfielder finishing with 29 disposals and eight tackles.
Fellow rookie midfielder Sam Swadling was also important throughout the day with 28 disposals, continuing the strong start to his career in black and white, while defender Jakob Ryan collected 23 touches and even found the big sticks with a goal.
West also kicked three majors as the Pies’ forward line performed strongly in the Round 3 clash, putting 17 majors on the board.
The 45-point win was a brilliant result for new Senior Coach Matthew Lokan who notched his first win since taking the reins ahead of the 2026 season.
Earlier in the week, the Pies’ AFL side were outplayed by Brisbane to the tune of 54 points.
The Pies were forced to swing a late change right before the start of the match, with Ed Allan replacing the injured Nick Daicos.
The Lions burst out of the blocks to take a 21-point lead into quarter time, with the Pies struggling to get their game going.
Dan McStay started strongly against his former team and kicked both of the Pies’ first two goals, while majors to Roan Steele and Lachie Sullivan in the second term kept the visitors in the contest.
The Pies won a hotly-contested third term with three goals to two, keeping the margin within reach at 27 points with a quarter to play, however the Lions piled on six goals in the fourth to run out comfortable winners.
McStay finished with four goals in an impressive display, while Dan Houston (32 disposals) and Josh Daicos (25 disposals) performed well.
The Pies’ AFL squad will now travel to Adelaide for a Gather Round clash against Fremantle on Friday night, while the VFL side will observe a league-wide bye.
