F FOOTY matches were won and lost on talent between the 50-metre arcs, then few teams would be harder to beat than Collingwood.

A midfield that looked quality on paper was bolstered further over summer by Adam Treloar, a good player whose reputation might have been enhanced that bit more by the bidding war between Collingwood and Richmond for his services.

But the lede might have been buried in all the excitement about the Magpie midfield, because four weeks into the season it is becoming increasingly apparent that their backline is a mess and their forward line isn’t faring a whole lot better.

At the MCG on Sunday, Melbourne became the third team in four weeks to put up a century against the Pies. By the same token, Nathan Buckley's men haven’t cracked the ton themselves, with their 13.9 against Richmond in round two their most prolific attacking performance of the season. In a season in which scoring is up, the graph trends downwards for the Pies.

Down back, the Pies are slow and reactive. Both tall and pacy forwards give them the frights. There are not enough quality defensive rebounds to allow their stellar midfielders to do their best work. At the other end of the ground, they can't find a remotely workable forward-line combination and they start with a genuine handicap when Travis Cloke is so woefully out of form.

By quarter-time on Sunday, Collingwood was five goals down. Granted, the margin didn't blow out too much thereafter, but it was a disappointing start from a side that had been the subject of media and supporter backlash, some of it self-inflicted given the remarks last week by president Eddie McGuire about coach Nathan Buckley.

Collingwood's early-season failings add another dimension to an already fascinating season. Buckley is contracted to the end of 2017, but supporter frustration is starting to grow as clubs such as Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs and St Kilda, who started miles behind the Pies when Buckley took over, seem to have passed them by.

Adding to the intrigue is the McGuire factor. He green-lighted Buckley's ascension to the coaching job and signed off on the rebuild. He and the coach are joined at the hip. If Buckley's plan doesn't succeed – and granted, four weeks into the season there is plenty of time for the Pies to come good – then that becomes the biggest black mark against the McGuire in his time as president.

Collingwood might turn over more dollars than a small African nation and have facilities the envy of every sporting club in the nation, but it means sod all if they can't get the on-field basics right. The Pies need to score more, and concede less.

In footy, that's where it starts and ends.

Watts arrives ... finally

Jack Watts would have enjoyed Melbourne's win more than most. It was against Collingwood that he made his debut in 2009, as an 18-year-old year 12 student hopelessly underprepared for what lay ahead and a polite reading of the day would be that the Pies relished lording it over him.

His premature debut was just one of a number of hopeless decisions made by the Melbourne brains trust in the years before Paul Roos and Peter Jackson arrived at the club to fix things up.

• Coach Roos admits Demons shared Watts doubts

Watts is actually too nice a bloke to make a big deal of it, but how he would have loved kicking four goals against those same Magpies and being the catalyst for the six-goal first term that turned the game Melbourne's way for good.

It has been a really slow burn with Watts, but in partnership with Jesse Hogan he might finally have arrived as a bona fide AFL key forward.

Better late than never, and good on him.

Lions seize the day

Talk to people around the Brisbane Lions for even a few minutes and it becomes apparent that they don't believe their club has been afforded anywhere near the same care and affection as the newer club down the road.

They point to the draw as Exhibit A. Whereas Gold Coast faced Essendon and Carlton in the opening three weeks – both at home – the Lions draw for the opening 10 games of the season was brutal. West Coast, North Melbourne, Geelong, Gold Coast, Western Bulldogs, Sydney Swans, Port Adelaide, Collingwood, Melbourne and Hawthorn represented their opening 10 games and even the supreme optimists in the Lions camp foresaw no more than perhaps three wins before the start of winter.

So it was imperative that they took the few opportunities for wins when they had them, which is what happened at the Gabba on late Saturday afternoon in a game that lacked nothing for entertainment and contained a fair bit of spite.

Conversion has been an issue for the Lions of late (11.17 in round two and 7.14 last week), and at half-time on Sunday night they had kicked 4.15 to trail the Suns by eight points. But they righted themselves in the second half to win 14.23 to14.10. Thirteen more scoring shots should mean a win of more than 13 points, but hey, when you're the Lions, you scrounge the wins whichever way you can.

The win underlined again the importance of Pearce Hanley and Daniel Rich to that side. Both were great, as was Dayne Zorko, while Tom Bell demonstrated what a handy pick-up he was from Carlton.

Importantly for the Lions, they're off the bottom, putting to bed growing fears – at least outside the club – that they were facing a 0-10 start to 2016 and another season in the Queensland capital that was over before it even really started. 

Dangerfield-less Crows are the real deal

Saturday night at Adelaide Oval lived up to the hype. The Crows-Swans game was every bit as good as advertised.

It was plainly Adelaide's biggest scalp of the year and the Crows resisted formidable pressure from the Swans, who relish a scrap as much any team in the competition. It also speaks volumes for the quality of the match that the Swans played their best footy for the year, even if it was also their first loss for the season.

It was frantic and frenzied and it brought the best out the best. Eddie Betts and Lance Franklin with four goals each, flashes of brilliance from Dan Hannebery, Rory Sloane, Scott Thompson and Tom Lynch.

The even spread of goalkickers would have delighted Adelaide coach Don Pyke, while the resilience of the Swans would have pleased their coach John Longmire. They kept coming and coming.

What Saturday night demonstrated was that reports of Adelaide's demise without Patrick Dangerfield were premature. The Crows are the real deal and Friday night's MCG clash with Hawthorn should be a beauty. And the Swans are finals-worthy every year. More fools us for questioning that.

Time for Richo to play bad cop

More sign of St Kilda's progress was in evidence on Saturday, pushing Hawthorn to within three points at Aurora Stadium. That's Fortress Aurora, where the Hawks have now won 16 straight since the middle of 2012.

The Saints were stiff in some respects, given that they were on the wrong end of a couple of decisions, particularly with respect to whether a pair of defensive kicks carried the requisite 15 metres. On the other hand, had Paddy McCartin capped off a sensational contested mark with a gettable shot from 30 metres out they might have got the victory they deserved.

Still, the question raised in a few outlets after the game was valid. In the four walls of the coach's room afterwards, did Richardson play the good cop or the bad cop? The easy play would have been a few pats on the back, a 'well done' and 'you'll get them next time', even if those statements are all true.

But the hope is that Richardson went the other way, with a paint-peeling spray designed to remind his players that at St Kilda, close enough is no longer good enough. Level pegging with a three-goal wind at their back in the final term, it doesn't matter who the opponent is, it was the Saints' game to lose and if Richardson is resolute about establishing a culture of excellence at St Kilda, it was time to don the black hat.

Port's home front

Port Adelaide's quest to take AFL football to China in 2017 is admirable in theory but when it comes to the integrity and competitive balance of the season, it reeks.

If Port truly believes in the idea of exporting the game and its brand to another market, surely it should give up a home game in order to so.

This writer is old enough to remember in the days when the Swans were floundering, that John Elliott's Carlton offered to play 11 games a year at the SCG as long as they were 'away' games. More bizarrely, the concept was given serious merit at the time.

What Port is trying to do, with the AFL's support, is 'bully' one of the weaker clubs in the competition to do its bidding by giving up a home game. Doubtless, the financial consideration will be too tempting for a club to ignore and provided the proposed venue passes muster, the game will go ahead.

But the perception is that the club that takes the cash and sells the game is a 'second division' club. Giving up a home game makes it harder for a lower club to sneak an upset win in front of their supporters, which engenders hope and optimism for the future. It can't help the image of the club in the commercial world or even to prospective free agents.

By all means play the game in China. But if Port truly believes in the concept, let it be the home team in order to do so.

Other observations

1. A bit of history at Etihad Stadium. North Melbourne is top of the ladder for the first time since round 22 1998. And they're a game clear as well in what is shaping as the most even season for years. Kudos go to the Kangas, who have been fun to watch all season. They were too good for Fremantle, which tried to keep pace with North's all-out attack but eventually ran out of puff and ideas. The Dockers aren’t built for that. And at 0-4 you can put a fork in them for the year. North Melbourne in 1975 is the only team to win a premiership after a 0-4 start. Different era. Different game.

2. Collingwood wasn't the only team to offer a limp response to a week spent under the microscope. Richmond went to Perth and went inside 50 only eight times en route to a 3.1 scoreline at half-time against West Coast. Coach Damien Hardwick's comment about needing to take a half-step back was puzzling. By doing that, he gave his players an out and a rationalization for underperforming, which they have been pretty much all season.

3. Anzac Day might yet be worth watching, if only because it shapes as a close one. What Essendon lacks in talent, it makes up for in application and on one of the biggest days of the footy year, it gives the Bombers a fighting chance. So bereft are the Pies of confidence that surely the Bombers have a sneaky chance of swinging the upset. And if you think we're talking much about Collingwood now, imagine the uproar if the Bombers nut them next week.

4. Hardly an original thought, but worth repeating here. I don't think Gold Coast's Steven May will get to play any actual football in May.

5. The glass half-full scenario suggests that the Hawks have done well to negotiate a tricky opening month of the season to be 3-1 while missing significant players every week. The glass half-empty is that a team that averaged 113.5 points a game last year is averaging just 91.25 over four games this year. The scoring has dried up at Hawthorn and Alastair Clarkson is correct, the Hawks can't ride their luck for too much longer. They're not playing particularly well.

6. For the second time in three years, Carlton is 0-4. This time around, there is no panic, no screaming "Blues in crisis" headlines. The effort, pretty much cannot be faulted. Still, a win would be a nice reward for that effort and with the similaryly 0-4 Fremantle and Essendon in the next fortnight, they get their chance.

7. We've seen Greater Western Sydney win enough games that it is no longer such a novelty. But to bully an opponent as it did Port Adelaide on Sunday? Not until now. Fourteen goals in the first half, their highest winning margin and their biggest ever score, made for a great day out at Manuka. And only now do the Giants get Jeremy Cameron back.

8. The Western Bulldogs didn't just walk under a ladder, a black cat – or several – crossed their path as well. Last week it was Bob Murphy out for the season, now likely best and fairest leader Jason Johannisen out for likely a long time with a severe hamstring strain. At times on Saturday night it looked calamitous with Tom Boyd and Matthew Suckling also off injured. And Josh Prudden did his ACL in the VFL and is also out for the year. Easton Wood should return next week, but the Dogs are now a bit depleted across half-back, the part of the ground where so much of their exciting run-and-gun starts from. Their fortuitous draw – seven games at Etihad to start the season – helps them a bit, so they need to bank the wins early, particularly if the injury list continue use to grow.