COLLINGWOOD is starving its opposition on the road to potential premiership redemption.

Nathan Buckley's game of keepings off went into over-drive in the final month of the season against struggling Gold Coast, Melbourne, Adelaide and Essendon, then stood up in the finals cauldron.

The highest score against the Magpies in that period was the 65 points the Bombers posted in round 23, with Geelong managing only 51 in Friday night's qualifying final.

No team is conceding fewer than Collingwood's 53.6 points per game against in that time, and Buckley's men also have the AFL's highest disposal differential of plus-62.6.

That latter statistic comes despite the Pies winning only slightly more of the Sherrin, but within that there's been a significant spike in short kicks, marks and (naturally) uncontested possession.

COLLINGWOOD: THE MASTERS OF KEEPINGS OFF

STATISTIC R1-19 RANK R20-QF RANK QF v CATS RANK Points for 83.6 6th 88.2 6th 61 6th Points against 76.9 7th 53.6 1st 51 1st Disposals differential +27.2 4th +62.6 1st +54 2nd Uncontested possession differential +18.4 5th +59.8 1st +76 1st Disposals 402.4 1st 410.8 1st 382 3rd Marks 100.3 2nd 124.8 1st 123 2nd Kick long % 37.5% 14th 31.5% 18th 33.8% 8th

The Magpies' willingness to embrace this style was evident in their high-profile round two showdown with Richmond, when they had 174 marks – the fifth-most ever – including a record 99 in the first half.

It's a dramatic shift from the end of last year, when Collingwood's form surge from round 21 to the Grand Final saw it average only 83.9 marks.

One aspect that has carried over from that period is slower ball movement.

Judging Collingwood during its month-long stretch against mostly cellar-dwellers to end the home and away season was difficult.

However, minor premier Geelong rebounded back into form in the same period, so the black and white army's approach also working on the Cats is reason for September optimism.

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There is more of an asterisk on the other development in this time.

The Magpies thrived in scoring from intercepts in the final four rounds of the season and their time in forward half numbers also increased significantly.

Geelong beat them in both categories on Friday night.

Jack Crisp, Levi Greenwood and Jeremy Howe all rank in the top 45 in the competition for average scores that resulted from their intercepts in the past five games.

They're No.1 for scores from clearance in the same five-match period, including scoring 17 more points from this source than the Cats.

Buckley will be acutely aware that teams, on average, score 58 per cent of their tally from intercepts this year, compared to 38 per cent from clearances and four per cent from kick-ins.

So figuring out that turnover game might be the final piece of Collingwood's puzzle, but it is trending in the right direction.

% of Pies' scores R1-20, 2018 R21-27, 2018 R1-19, 2019 R20-QF 2019 From intercepts 58.9% (12th) 58.8% (ninth) 55.5% (16th) 61.7% (sixth) From clearances 35.2% (ninth) 36.0% (ninth) 40.1% (sixth) 36.5% (12th)

The Gabba thriller that wasn't

Look away now, Lions fans.

Brisbane would already be ruing what might have been had it kicked straighter in the first half of Saturday night's 47-point qualifying final defeat to Richmond.

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The Lions' 8.17 (65) total is the fifth-most inaccurate finals scoreline since Champion Data began including complete misses in 2002.

The Tigers' 18.4 (112), on the other hand, was the fifth-most accurate by the same measure.

Champion Data's 'expected score' metric, which takes into account the difficulty of each shot and predicts the outcome, has put that hollow feeling into even sharper focus.

Brisbane should have boasted a two-goal half-time lead (instead of being down by about that margin), been within eight points at the last break (38) and lost by only three points (47).

EXPECTED SCORES BY QUARTER

TIME BRISBANE RICHMOND QT 31 (30)* 15 (18)* HT 53 (34) 41 (45) 3QT 69 (50) 77 (88) FT 94 (65) 97 (112)

* Actual score in brackets

Giant gap in opportunity

Greater Western Sydney didn't muck around in exacting revenge against the Western Bulldogs in their elimination final on Saturday.

The Giants' 58-point demolition of the Dogs came courtesy of the sixth-biggest contested possession differential (167-125) recorded in a final, which goes back to 1999.

They also set a record for inside 50 differential in the process.

Eagles love to kick

West Coast racked up 257 kicks among its 382 disposals against Essendon last Thursday night, good for a 2.05 kick-to-handball ratio.

It was the sixth time this season the Eagles have had double as many kicks as handballs, just one short of Brisbane's competition-high.

Together they've accounted for the majority of the 19 times all sides recorded a kick-to-handball ratio above two in 2019.