1. Pendlebury gives Magpie fans a heart attack

The impending arrival of the Collingwood captain's first child has had him on tenterhooks all week, but he lined up against the GIANTS and Pies officials said he wouldn't be leaving during the game, even if his wife Alex went into labour. The black and white army, however, would have fallen off their chairs when Pendlebury jogged around the boundary line and down the tunnel as play began in the second half. It turned out that the skipper just needed a quick toilet break and it wasn't long before he returned to the field, but there was a good couple of minutes where thoughts of the star Magpie jumping on a private jet to get back to Melbourne, or running for a chopper outside Spotless Stadium, would have been running wildly through the minds of the Collingwood faithful.

Match Report

2. Daniel Lloyd fan club witness a dream debut

The GWS first gamer had a truckload of supporters at Spotless Stadium after his Killarney Vale footy club where he was discovered all came down to the game for the match. They got one hell of a show from the 25-year-old Lloyd. He handled his debut with a cool head, and his first touch, a clean pick up and handball helped his side to their second goal. With chants of "Lloydy! Lloydy!" ringing out all night, the fan club stood as one when Lloyd booted his first goal in the third term from a clever snap to put the GIANTS four points up, and they'll go away satisfied with a quality performance. Lloyd finished the night with 17 possessions and a valuable major, and is assured of another outing against Richmond at home next week.

3. GIANTS' Pies hoodoo over

Collingwood was one of the only teams left for the GIANTS to conquer – the other being West Coast – since they entered the competition in 2012, but a win for the ages put that hoodoo to bed. The Pies blitzed the home side with six goals in the opening term, after they gave up the first two, but the GIANTS hit back in the second, until the teams went goal for goal in the third quarter. Down to one man on the bench midway through the last term, the GIANTS looked gone when Brayden Maynard put the Pies up by five points, but some vintage front and square work from Steve Johnson gave the GIANTS what must be one of the finest wins of their short history.

4. Short day for unlucky GIANTS defender

Aidan Corr didn't get long to enjoy the GIANTS' return to Spotless Stadium with the key defender knocked out just 20 seconds into the game. The Pies chopped a quick kick inside 50 where Corr courageously backed back to take a mark, but had his feet taken out from underneath him by Phil Davis, who lost his feet at the same time. With no way of stopping himself, Corr flipped backwards and fell heavily on the back of his head, and didn't move for more than a minute, even after GIANTS medical staff had rushed to his aid. It took almost three minutes for the GIANT to groggily walk off the ground with the help of trainers, and he headed straight to the rooms, where his day was called to an end after he failed a concussion test. He was joined before half time by teammate Sam Reid, who was concussed while laying a tackle in the second term, meaning the GIANTS played two down for close to three quarters.

WATCH: The final two minutes

5. Footy is a simple game sometimes

Modern footy is often complicated by structures, set plays and new terminology, but GWS showed it could be easy when you get it right. After the Magpies scored a behind in the opening minutes, GIANT Nathan Wilson used his elite kick to launch a bomb inside the centre square where fellow West Australian Rory Lobb took a strong contested mark near the centre circle. The big man calmly got back from his mark and dropped a pass onto the chest of Jeremy Cameron, who was bolting back inside 50 on the break, and took an uncontested mark 40 metres out. Cameron went back and slotted the first goal of the game, and his 23rd of the season, with the GIANTS taking it the length of the ground with precision and efficiency.