Jesse White, who announced his retirement during the week, started in fine form with the first two goals of the game within eight minutes and in a blink of an eye the Pies had slammed on five goals in 13 minutes. The stunning opening term set up the 87-point victory, 19.14 (128) to 6.5 (41).

The Roosters coaching staff have often spoken about the necessity for its young side to start well, while that has not always been the case this season, a one-sided term as seen on Sunday leaves little chance of recovering.

“They wanted to try and blow us away in the first term – and that’s exactly what they did,” Greig said.

The Roosters brought in youth to what is an already young side and clearly the lack of on-field leadership made it difficult for the Roosters to stop the bleeding as Collingwood started in a ferocious fashion. Young Rebel on VFL debut Flynn Appleby was named the Roosters second best for his job on league leading goal-kicker Kayle Kirby, who kicked one for the day. Greig made it clear during the week that exposing some of the region’s youth to VFL football was important and while the scoreboard was not flattering, cases like Appleby’s will be what it is hoping to take away from otherwise disappointing losses.

The Roosters were hammered around the contest, losing the clearances by 27.