IT IS only a start, but it was the start Matthew Nicks needed after last September. 

Adelaide rose from eight wins and 15th on the ladder in 2024 to win 18 games and finish the home and away season on top of the ladder, before losing both home finals to Collingwood and Hawthorn. 

After watching on from afar in Opening Round, Adelaide ended a hoodoo against the Magpies to quickly move on from last year.

MAGPIES V CROWS Full match details and stats

The Crows hadn't beaten the Magpies at the MCG since 2014 and had only triumphed twice here against them since the 2002 preliminary final loss.

Nicks acknowledged the significance of the 14-point victory early in his post-match press conference on Saturday night, following a long summer of focus on the Crows. 

"They're enjoying the moment right now, you could feel that in the song. You know some weeks you have a win and it's a nice grind. This one felt really good. I mean from our point of view, we're sick of losing to them; I mean that from a respect point of view; they're a very good side – and they've had the wood on us," Nicks told reporters. 

"So to fight through like we did tonight and show that we're still developing, we're still getting better, is a really good sign. That's a big stage out there. There's a period of time where the chant went up, the Collingwood chant came on – all things that we planned for, all things that we expected – and our guys were able to knuckle down in that moment and a number of moments following that and just get the job done. 

"Coming into the game we felt in a great spot. We were super confident like every team like we hadn't lost, but you just don't know until you get out there and play. It's tough watching (Opening Round) and seeing everyone go at it and getting a bit of a gauge on where the game's at, and those games were lightning fast, so for us to come out with a lot of confidence on what we've done, things we've worked on, who we are as a team, we believe in ourselves. Today just instils a little bit more of that belief. So today's great, but it’s just one step, but a really, really good start to this season."

Adelaide led by only three points at half-time, before the game changed in the space of the first 18 minutes of the third quarter when the Crows slotted six of the first seven goals of the second half to put them on a path to victory, courtesy of midfield dominance. 

"I think the first half was an arm wrestle. Who was he going to crack first? We had a really good discussion at the break about where we weren't quite getting the game right, and our guys went out and executed really well in that period of time," Nicks said.

"That third quarter is always super important, so it's really pleasing that our guys were able to adjust slightly. I think both teams made some small adjustments, but we really got the game where we wanted it and in the end it was enough. We were able to dig in in the last when we were under pressure. That's how the history of our games go against this mob to dig in like we did and just get it done was really pleasing."

While Dan Curtin and Mark Keane are still months away, Adelaide will regain Izak Rankine from suspension in next Friday night's enthralling encounter with the Western Bulldogs at the Adelaide Oval. 

"We had to stop him running out tonight right, so he's chomping at the bit. In fact, we're trying to pull him back a little at the moment, Izak. But he's ready to go," he said. 

"Everything going well this week with training and so on, he'll play next week. But again we've still got to train the main session and get through that. But he's in great nick."

Collingwood coach Craig McRae didn't sugarcoat things in his postmortem, labelling the lacklustre performance unsatisfactory, just six days after the Magpies showed up St Kilda.

After registering only 40 inside 50 entries in Opening Round to lose that battle by 23, Collingwood won territory 59-55 but converted only 44.1 per cent of them into scores. 

"I feel like we were pretty average. I feel like parts of the game got away from us, and credit to them particularly early in the third quarter; their stoppage stuff just really dominated us. Then some of our turnovers in the third quarter were really costly. 

"It's an interesting time, isn't it? Like we're round one, but we've played two games, so it's a bit weird and we’re getting a feel for the things that you're doing well and not doing so well. Last week gave us a bit of a taste of some things that we need to improve. Clearly inside 50s was one of those tonight we won that battle, but then we weren't as efficient. So then it creates another opportunity to improve that. 

"Look, I'm gonna repeat myself. I thought we were pretty average and we played the team that finished top of the ladder last year who played the first game of the year with high energy."

Collingwood now has a 12-day break into Greater Western Sydney in round three, where it hopes Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe will be ready to return to bolster an undersized defence right now.