In front of over 90,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Collingwood produced their third win of the Australian Football League season, finishing stronger than Essendon to record a 16-point win in the traditional ANZAC Day match.

The fixture between the two Melbourne-based clubs, coincided with the day when the nation remembers those who served and died in the theatre of war - and has been an annual event since 1995.

If the emotion and nerves wewre to be taken into account during the official pre-game ceremonies to mark the occasions, then Essendon looked like certainties over a nervous-looking Magpies. And it was the Bombers who got off to a flying start.

They kicked the game's first two goals in as many minutes before the Magpies had even got out of neutral. After a frenetic five minutes, the Magpies finally began to settle and started to win more of the football but failed to press home their advantage on the scoreboard with only one goal from their six scoring shots.

The Magpies'  yips near goal continued in the second quarter, kicking 4.7 for the quarter when they had overhauled the Bombers' lead due to their intensity on the ball, only for Courtney Johns to level the scores right on the half-time siren.

Essendon's young stars were flying the flag for the Bombers. Paddy Ryder was standing tall in defence and once again showed his continuing development as an AFL footballer and Alwyn Davey, brother of Melbourne's Aaron, showed that he is every bit as exciting and electrifying as his brother. He created his own highlight reel with a big tackle in the first quarter that resulted in a Bombers goal, and added a goal of his own in the second quarter when he broke free of one tackle, then dodged his way out of heavy traffic on his way to goal.

Collingwood began to take control of general play in the third quarter as the Bombers started to look flat-footed and even confused as to their match-ups. Yet the Magpies could not shake off the opposition on the scoreboard. It wasn't until the final quarter that they were able to finally break free of the Bombers, who were by this stage were looking tired. And even though the lead was never more than three goals, the Bombers lacked the firepower and ability to pull back the deficit.

Essendon's much-heralded goalscorers failed to fire. Matthew Lloyd kicked three goals but was well held by James Clement after a promising start and Scott Lucas was practically unheard of after being well beaten by Harry O'Brien.

Magpie Heath Shaw won the ANZAC Medal for the best player and was the leading possession winner on the ground with 32 disposals. But it wasn't just the quantity of possessions that made Shaw stand out, it was the quality of those disposals. Shaw put his body on the line on many occasions and found teammates with quality possessions. Magpies fans were also heartened by the impressive return of Alan Didak in his first match back from major knee surgery. The forward overcame a slow start to kick three goals.

Final score: Collingwood 12.23.95 bt Essendon 11.13.79. Goals: Collingwood – Alan Didak 3, Anthony Rocca 3, Ben Johnson, Scott Pendlebury, Travis Cloke, Tarkyn Lockyer, Brad Dick. Essendon – Matthew Lloyd 3, Alwyn Davey 3, Courtney Johns 2, Mark Bolton, Mark Johnson, Angus Monfries