The electricity outage early in the first quarter in Sunday's twilight game at the MCG turned out to be a bad omen for the Power.

Collingwood midfielder Dane Swan was electric with 48 disposals - although coach Mick Malthouse only rated his game "reasonable" - as the Magpies blitzed Port Adelaide by 38 points.

The 17.12 (114) to 11.10 (76) win meant the two teams finished round 10 equal on five wins, in the midst of a logjam of teams fighting for top-eight spots behind unbeaten St Kilda and Geelong.

Three of the six main banks of lights briefly lost power in the first term, as did the two coaches' boxes.

Port led by 19 points midway through the second term, before Collingwood kicked the next nine goals either side of halftime to kill off the contest.

Swan had an incredible 28 disposals to half time as Port concentrated on successful tags against fellow midfielders Leon Davis, Tarkyn Lockyer and Scott Pendlebury.

Swan's stats fest ended up only five short of the modern AFL record, set by Greg Williams in 1989, and he was best afield.

"I don't take much notice of stats ... what's that mean, does he win Tattslotto with that?," Malthouse said.

"I don't get caught up in stats, unless it's the opposition and they're really damaging.

"He was okay - I didn't think it was one of Dane's greatest games, by any stretch of the imagination.

"He had a reasonable game ... mind you, having said that, you could go a lifetime and (not) get to 48, couldn't you?"

Malthouse added his team seemed anxious early and made too many errors, before tightening up ahead of the main break.

Second-string players such as Brad Dick (three goals), Sharrod Wellingham and Leigh Brown were outstanding as the Magpies then took control.

"(They) had to - you must do that against Port," Malthouse said of the efforts of his lesser lights.

"One of the secrets of Geelong, it's not so much their 22, it's their 30, because if someone falls over, someone comes in and does an equally-good job."

Port coach Mark Williams noted that his team won several important categories, including inside 50s and clearances.

But the Power did not make the most of their chances as they controlled the game in the first half.

"Collingwood probably got a bit of a baseball bat around their ears at half time and away they went," Williams said.

Williams also agreed that Port were currently "not very good" when a game was going against them.

"Our best players, or our oldest and most experienced players, aren't playing well," he said.

"They, in times of crisis, need to lead.

"If they are playing well, it makes it a helluva lot easier for a lot more (team-mates).

"I'm not saying every person there in that group, but I'm saying enough of those aren't playing to their standard, whereas we're hanging the young blokes out a little bit to dry."

An obvious exception was captain Domenic Cassisi, who impressed with 30 disposals.

The Power lost forward Daniel Motlop before the game with an ankle problem and Chad Cornes and Matt Thomas also suffered leg injuries in the second half.

Williams also said after the match that they knew some players were selection risks for the MCG game.

"You try to get away with things and today we were found out - there were too many players who weren't fit at the end," he said.

"They couldn't chase, they couldn't add to the group, couldn't interchange enough.

"Collingwood brought a couple back and got through the game without any problems, we continued with a couple of ours and they didn't do as well as we hoped ... there were a few.

"We want to play fit players (next Saturday) - we'll probably err on the side of not playing them if we think they're not going to last through a game."

"For a fair while in the first half we were in control and should have got more out of it," Williams said.

"In the third quarter, to Collingwood's credit, they kept coming and they just took it apart."

Port managed to shut down key Collingwood midfielders Leon Davis, Scott Pendlebury and Tarkyn Lockyer - but Dane Swan stepped up with 48 possessions.

"That what a good team does, when someone is down, they stand up and help out those particular players," Williams said.

"You can't shut everyone down and I suppose Dane's kicking is not as good as the others - we tended not to worry as much about him.

"But obviously he had a big influence on the game in the end."

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