A dominant second-half earned Collingwood their first win of the AFL season and exposed the gulf between Melbourne's best and worst.

The Magpies found themselves ball watching for about the first 40 minutes, as last year's wooden spooners Melbourne produced some slick ball movement at the MCG on Saturday.

But a major turnaround just before half-time saw the Pies storm to a 53-point victory, on the back of 12 of the last 15 goals of the game, 17.15 (117) to 10.4 (64).

Paul Medhurst put Collingwood in front with a goal late in the second term, before he, John Anthony (four goals), Alan Didak (three) and Travis Cloke (two) created too many holes for Melbourne's defence to cover.

Ruckman Josh Fraser also had a massive say in the result by dominating in the centre square and around the ground, while Leon Davis, Dane Swan and debutant Dayne Beams imposed Collingwood's influence in the midfield.

Although Mick Malthouse's side cantered to the line, the coach was far from satisfied after another sluggish start, following the costly tardiness in round one against Adelaide.

Melbourne began the match beautifully and constantly made space by moving the ball straight up the middle at speed.

Aaron Davey's grass-burning passes found Brad Miller, Matthew Bate and Brad Green in space, and a major boilover beckoned when the Demons skipped to a 13-point lead in the second term.

But Collingwood closed up in reply and exerted greater pressure around the ball, and kicked the last three goals of the first half, and nine of 12 thereon.

Once the Magpies starved Melbourne of room, the field kicking of Davis, Didak, Tarkyn Lockyer and Medhurst became influential, although the glitch came through a wasteful 3.8 in the last quarter.

Malthouse was disappointed with the first half, but pleased his side turned the contest so emphatically.

"I didn't think our players reacted to the situation (well), but we were able to comprehend a bit more about what we're trying to achieve," he said.

"Once we got a little bit of momentum, momentum is a wonderful thing if you can get it going for you and it's pretty difficult to stop in many respects, even though we let ourselves down in the last quarter with the shots on goal." Beams finished with a handy 18 disposals and a goal after replacing Dale Thomas, who withdrew because of a virus.

But dashing defender Heath Shaw's return was marred by a report for rough conduct on Demon Jared Rivers.

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said his side came unstuck by failing to stay precise when Collingwood raised the pressure.

"They put a lot of pressure on us which not only showed on the scoreboard, but we turned the ball over at times in the second half where in the first quarter-and-a-half we moved the ball quickly and we created options," he said.

Davey, Green (three goals), Cameron Bruce and Miller were Melbourne's best, but only Davey could exert much influence after quarter-time.

Bailey praised Miller's 10-mark game given he returned from an early bump to the head from teammate Ricky Petterd.

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