'Magpies, Blues is one for the ages'

Classic ... Scott Pendlebury celebrates a goal for Collingwood. Source: Wayne Ludbey / News Limited

Fox Sports AFL expert Julian de Stoop believes Collingwood's win over Carlton will go down as one of the best between the long-time rivals.

Meanwhile, Geelong's win over North Melbourne was one of the strangest games in recent memory and Melbourne hit a new low. Read Jules's review of the round two action below.

Richmond Tigers 14.15 (99) def St Kilda Saints 12.10 (82)
There's no doubt the Tigers are on the up and St Kilda are going backwards. Scott Watters knows his team needs to rebuild. The Saints will be nuisance value all year because they've got a lot of good players but I don't think they'll win more games than they lose. The difference was Jack Riewoldt, he kicked eight goals (against St Kilda) last year, and kicked seven on Friday night, which just highlights St Kilda's problem of not having a strong key defender. Reece Conca played his best game for the Tigers while for the Saints, Stephen Milne's form is a bit of a concern. He's playing higher up the ground but he's just not tackling. There's already been calls that maybe his spot is in jeopardy. The good news for Richmond is they've been challenged in two games and won, whereas last year they probably would have lost.

Sydney Swans 17.12 (114) def Gold Coast Suns 11.7 (73)
They're not at their best, the Swans, but you wouldn't expect it given they were the premiers and started later than anybody else. That's probably the good thing about having the soft draw, they can just ease themselves into it. Kieran Jack and Nick Smith were a good tag team on Gary Ablett and Jarrad McVeigh was excellent, he's probably still an under-rated player. Gold Coast have definitely improved, to be competitive with the premiers for most of the day was a good effort. Jaeger O'Meara showed what a player he is going to be in only his second game, he was fantastic. They just need some of their young talls to come on, at least Charlie Dixon was good in probably his best game.

Western Bulldogs 11.12 (78) def by Fremantle Dockers 16.10 (106)
The first quarter was the difference, the pressure Fremantle put on the Bulldogs. Unfortunately the Dogs couldn't really handle it but the good sign was - when last year they would have got beaten by 80 or 90 points - at least this time they fought back. Adam Cooney looks to be back in form, he broke the lines and ran at full pace and young Tom Liberatore, he's a terrific player in the clearances. The Dockers, they probably weren't in top form but did what they needed to do. Nat Fyfe was terrific, if he can stay fit he's going to be some sort of player. The fact that that goal umpire got injured broke Fremantle's momentum and probably stopped them going on to a bigger win. The poor old umpire, it looked like a pretty nasty injury.

Brisbane Lions 10.17 (77) def by Adelaide Crows 14.12 (96)
It was a really good game this one. At three-quarter time, the momentum was with Brisbane but some magic from Patrick Dangerfield got the Crows across the line. That goal on his left, on the run, from 60m and the one from the boundary a couple of minutes later shows why he is one of the star players in the competition. Brisbane were a lot better than the week before but leading at three-quarter time and at home, they'll be disappointed they didn't go on to win it. Daniel Rich needs to learn how to play with a tag, he's been taken out of the game the last two weeks. Jonathan Brown needs some help up forward as well, you can't rely on him to kick a winning score all the time. Given how poor Adelaide were in week one, it was a good victory.

Essendon Bombers 28.16 (184) def Melbourne Demons 5.6 (36)
Hard to believe the Demons could get worse but that second half - 17 goals to one, Essendon kicked the last 14 - was just uncompetitive. There's major confidence issues, there's major leadership issues and they're a team that look like they've gone backwards when everyone thought after a year under Mark Neeld and a good summer they might go forward. The club is in crisis. It's good the club has backed Neeld but he can't have too many more results like that before his job comes into question. Essendon's got everything going for them. They've got a full list to chose from, unlike last year, Dyson Heppell looks like is going to become an elite midfielder and Jobe Watson just keeps knocking up best on grounds. The good thing is their percentage is almost like another win but I think we'll get a more accurate gauge when they play Fremantle next week.

Port Adelaide Power 19.20 134) def Greater Western Sydney Giants 11.12 (78)
There was a lot of emotion during the John McCarthy tribute and the worry was it might work against the Power after the first quarter. However, once they got control of the game, they were good. It was probably one of the best games Justin Westhoff has ever played, it just comes down to whether Ken Hinkley can get him to do it on a weekly basis, because he has a lot of talent. A couple of their kids looked good; Chad Wingard has taken another step in his second season and Jasper Pittard, who's hardly played because of injury, had a good game. It's the same old problem for the Giants. They'll be competitive for parts of the game but playing four quarters is going to be tough. Similar to Essendon, the Power play Adelaide in the Showdown and that will give us a better indication of where they're at.

Geelong Cats 16.16 (112) def North Melbourne Kangaroos 17.6 (108)
One of the more bizarre games you'll ever see, just for the fact we had rain at Etihad Stadium. Brad Scott probably went too far with that official but if you've got forecast rain and an indoor stadium then you should probably shut the roof. I don't think it was the reason North lost the game, they had a 41-point lead and conceded more than 40 inside-50s in the second half, so I don't think they can blame the weather. In the first half, the Kangaroos plan of playing keepings-off worked beautifully but the Cats never give up and just know how to win. Joel Selwood had an ordinary match but was fantastic in the final quarter and the move of Harry Taylor onto Drew Petrie was a good one. The Cats' slow starts are a worry, you can't keep coming back from seven goals down every week, so I'm sure Chris Scott will have something to say about that.

Collingwood Magpies 17.15 (117) def Carlton 15.10 (100)
The hype was massive and it was an instant classic. It was an arm-wrestle in the first half in the rain and it opened up after that when Collingwood just ran harder. The Magpies have done well again, they lost Darren Jolly in the first quarter after losing Dayne Beams and Heath Shaw before the game last week, so they're very resiliant. Quinten Lynch was fantastic against a really good player in Matthew Kreuzer, last year, Chris Dawes wouldn't have been able to do that. The small forwards for Carlton looked like they were going to haunt Collingwood again - this time it was Jeff Garlett and Chris Yarran - but in the end is was probably the Magpies' small forwards who were the difference. Little Jamie Elliott was a great player. Carlton played better this week, so you can probably say they can match it with the big guns, but a lack of a tall forward still hurts them. You can't rely on you're small players all the time.

West Coast Eagle 15.8 (98) def by Hawthorn 23.10 (148)
It was a great win for the Hawks. Coming off a six-day break, travelling over to Perth in 30-degree heat and to kick something like 23 goals was a great effort. Luke Hodge made a good comeback, a few of us raised an eyebrow when he was named but I thought he was magnificent. Luke Breust doesn't get much credit but he's a really important player for the Hawks. For the Eagles, I think they're really missing Nic Naitanui, not only because he's a good player but other teams are just running Dean Cox into the ground. The Hawks had three ruckman on Sunday with Roughead, Hale and Bailey. Josh Kennedy was strong, which is a good sign, but for a team who has ambitions of winning the premiership, they're going to need to get moving soon. In saying that, they've got Melbourne next week, so they should open their account there. The Hawks showed why they are one of the teams to beat and it will be a huge game on Sunday when they take on the Magpies.

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