Marc Williams in a BPL citizen journalist.

There is just something about Collingwood.

Before Saturday night they were atop the AFL ladder, had a Brownlow favorite in the midfield, were ranked in the top three for total defense and attack and yet were still questioned by anyone who “knows” footy.

The funny thing about Saturday night’s game at the 'G played is that some of the most frequented quandaries regarding the Pies have still been left unanswered despite their comprehensive 22-point victory.

Leon? Trav Cloke’s kicking? Forward line efficiency?

They will still be brought up by the Magpies critics, and neither coach nor commentator has grounds to retort. But perhaps the most significant thing out of the win was the realization that the Pies could match and smash the Cats in contested footy and that their brand of relentless front-half pressure well and truly stood up against the best of the best.

Perhaps these critics saying that the Pies would need Leon Davis “present” and Travis Cloke to find god and then ask him to straighten out his blurred kicking at goal in order to be a real September threat, may need to think again.

It now seems like a bonus when Travis Cloke can chip in with two or three goals. His marking and strength has never been questioned, and his work rate would be something every teammate in the black and white would undoubtedly cherish.

Leon, though invisible to those of us who actually view these blockbuster games, must be doing something right on the ground for a coach as astute as Mick Malthouse to keep him out there.

Perhaps the threat of an explosion is as great a weapon as the explosion itself?

The Pies however, are clearly not into terrorism or any other kind of unseemly attack.

Their brand of football is tough and relentless. For so long we focused on the dour, the evenness, the tackling and the support for one another. We forgot to observe the wonderful hands in close of Wellingham, Pendlebury, Ball, Swan, Didak, Sidebottom, Beams and Thomas.

We should have been noticing the brilliant kicking skill of a side that skirts so closely to the boundary so often, but manages to pump the ball inside fifty more than any other side in the competition.

Kicking skill epitomized early in the last quarter when Alan Didak sublimely pivoted on the forward flank in at the Punt Road end, then clipped a toed pass inside 50 to Sharrod Wellingham with weight so perfect and precise that Benny Johnson’s skin folds would have been envious.

Wellingham missed the goal. You get the feeling that was not part of the script. Leon kicking five last quarter goals was in the script. Cloke kicking four goals straight was in the script.

Collingwood kicking 23.14 was only in the script written by those magpie fans.

But Collingwood kicked 14.23.

Last night, the script just got a little more interesting.