The Power gave Collingwood a two-goal head-start before clicking into gear and claiming a a dominant 67-point victory over the hapless Magpies.

Port’s mosquito fleet of Aaron Young and Jake Neade (four goals apiece), Chad Wingard (three) and Jarman Impey (one) combined for more than half of their winning score, but coach Ken Hinkley still went out of his way to laud the performance of Dixon.

In his first season with the Power, Dixon has taken his time to find his feet.

Hinkley said the former Gold Coast spearhead’s impact on the 19.11 (125) to 7.16 (58) triumph went far beyond a stats sheet that read 14 disposals, three marks, four tackles and no goals.

“I said to the boys in the rooms that it was nearly the best game he’s played for us this year,” said Hinkley.

“He’s played some good footy and the small boys … all hit the scoreboard in a big way but I thought a lot of that came off the back of his work.

“He’s big and he gets monstered, he gets grabbed hold of and gets held onto.

“He doesn’t get much help from a free-kick point of view but he just brings the ball to ground.”

At the other end of the MCG all eyes were on Travis Cloke, who was back into the senior side for the first time since being dropped in April.

Cloke set up the opening goal for skipper Scott Pendlebury and never stopped trying.

But opposed to first-gamer Logan Austin he still looked a mere shadow of the man who won All-Australian honours in 2011 and 2013.

“Clokey was OK, he was serviceable – not too bad,” said Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.

“We had quite a few who were not at the level they would have wanted to be.

“Clokey would be happy to be back but I’m sure he would want to contribute a bit more than that.”

We’re having a little look around the corner now – we’ve just got to be convinced that we’re going around the corner

The Power led by 11 points at the first change, increasing that margin to 25 at halftime and 50 at three-quarter time.

“I said a couple of weeks ago we were at the corner,” Hinkley said.

“We’re having a little look around the corner now (and) we’ve just got to be convinced that we’re going around the corner.”

Despite the cold and damp conditions, Collingwood would have been disappointed with the small crowd of 28,567.

It was a second straight MCG loss for the Magpies who slipped to a 4-7 win-loss record ahead of the annual Queen’s Birthday clash with Melbourne.

The Power improved to 6-5 and will now return home to take on the Western Bulldogs at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday in a finals-shaping encounter.

The Bulldogs yesterday survived a late charge by West Coast to score a thrilling eight-point win at Etihad Stadium.

The Eagles kicked three unanswered goals to trail by just three points with five minutes to play, but the Dogs dug deep to record a spirited 12.11 (83) to 11.9 (75) win in front of 28,769 fans, living up to their reputation as one of the best pressure teams in the competition. Their midfielders’ hard work helping negate the influence of star Eagles ruckman Nic Naitanui as they went on to win the contested possession count 152-114.

The news wasn’t all good for Port yesterday, with Hinkley revealing veteran defender Alipate Carlile is unlikely to play again in 2016 after he suffered a serious knee injury in the reserves.

With Jack Hombsch sidelined with a hamstring strain and Tom Jonas serving a six-match suspension, the Power could ill-afford to lose their experienced fullback, who had only recently recovered from a broken wrist.

Hinkley said Carlile’s injury is a big blow but he hopes to regain full-forward Jay Schulz and speedster Matt White from injury after the bye.

-AAP