Anzac Day proved Collingwood can be really offensive.

Supporters of 15 AFL clubs would argue that is always true, but the 73-point demolition of Essendon at the MCG proved the Magpies have the scoring prowess to turn games in short, damaging bursts.

Collingwood drew on their blend of strong-marking forwards, expert crumbers and creativity across half-forward to smash the Bombers 23.16 (154) to 12.9 (81).

This fixture has usually been an arm wrestle - typified by the epic draw of 1995 - but crowd of 88,999 saw Collingwood flex their muscle.

Paul Medhurst beat four opponents in booting six goals to win the Anzac Medal, Travis Cloke rediscovered the form which won last year's best and fairest award and bagged five, and a handful of other Magpies queued up to boot goals.

Even without the injured Anthony Rocca - their leading goal kicker the past two seasons - Collingwood posted the biggest win in this fixture's 14-season history and their biggest victory over Essendon since they won by 147 points in 1971.

Collingwood's win gave them a 7-6 record in this fixture and 3-3 for this season, but the Dons' third successive defeat has them 2-4 and in danger of losing touch.

Both sides set the tone for scoring with five first-quarter goals, but when the Magpies ramped it up in the second, Essendon could not match them.

Collingwood booted eight unanswered goals either side of half-time, as Medhurst and Cloke grew in confidence and their teammates provided silver service when continually pumping the ball forward.

Medhurst played the game of his career as a strong-marking small forward, while Cloke roamed far and wide for 14 marks and put his side in front with a 60-metre roost halfway through the second term.

Cloke had struggled to emulate his 2007 form early this season, but lifted once Rocca pulled out because of soreness.

"It put a bit more pressure on myself because Pebs (Rocca) takes that real big pack-mark, so I had to do that, and it put a bit more responsibility into everyone," he said.

"It worked out pretty well today, and Pebs was watching from the boundary line and liked what he saw, and the ball delivery was a lot better."

Cloke said the most pleasing aspect of the win was the even contribution, as Tarkyn Lockyer and Leon Davis both enjoyed three-goal cameos, while Alan Didak, Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan and Dale Thomas either set up goals or booted them.

Collingwood had only once previously topped 150 points in eight seasons, and coach Mick Malthouse was satisfied enough with his side's potency.

"We've had 40-odd shots at goal which is significant against a side that has been a bit of a nuisance to sides this year," he said.

"... Missing so many shots on goal and perhaps not capitalising every opportunity, but if we persist that will happen one day. We'll kick a real big score."

But Malthouse refused to discuss whether Rocca, who pulled out with what the coach called "niggles", would return for next week's game against Hawthorn.

Essendon coach Matthew Knights labelled his side's performance "disappointing and dismal", and had some telling statistics to lament.

Collingwood took an extra 57 uncontested marks, which suggests they worked harder after expertly sweeping the ball out of Essendon's attack and into their own.

"Particularly in our forward half, Collingwood out-crumbed us significantly at the fall of the ball," he said.

"It didn't matter whether it was medium-type players or bigger-type players, they got to the fall of the ball and when it did go into our forward half it was just coming out like a pinball machine, it was just coming out too quick.

"The Collingwood (midfielders) could then break to the wings and really hurt us."

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