Collingwood will nervously await scans to determine how long Steele Sidebottom will be sidelined by the knee injury that soured his 300th AFL game and his side's 35-point win over North Melbourne.
Sidebottom will have scans after suffering a medial collateral ligament injury in his right knee in an awkward tackle on Cameron Zurhaar in the opening 10 minutes at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
Collingwood were clearly initially rattled by Sidebottom's misfortune but were able to keep a gutsy but scrappy North Melbourne at arm's length to claim a 16.9 (105) to 10.10 (70) win and maintain outright top spot.
The Magpies were celebrating Sidebottom's milestone and Mason Cox's 100th game, when the winger felt for his knee and headed straight down the race before being officially substituted out for Will Hoskin-Elliott.
"Well it looks like he'll miss a few weeks," coach Craig McRae told reporters.
"I'm not sure exactly - three to four potentially, he might be back after the bye. I don't know, we have to get scans and the like.
"But it's a shame - we sort of build the whole day up around what it means for him and all of us.
"And jeez he started well too - he was on fire early."
Jordan De Goey was at his dynamic best for the Pies, racking up 35 disposals, 10 inside-50s, 589 metres gained and one goal.
"I didn't want to say anything - I thought, 'Keep quiet on Jordy because he's having a ripping season,'" McRae said.
"Today was out of the box.
"The difference between Jordy maybe two or three years ago is his work ethic and his ability now to cover ground.
"You watch how hard he's running, you watch him get to a contest - and defensively as well, he's buying right into that.
"That was a pretty special game."
Nick Daicos collected 32 disposals and seven clearances, wingman Josh Daicos and Brody Mihocek kicked three goals, while Isaac Quaynor intercepted at will.
For North, former No.3 draft pick Will Phillips racked up 29 disposals and five clearances, while Hugh Greenwood (25 touches, 10 clearances) was strong and Nick Larkey finished with five goals.
The Magpies raced away with the first four majors of the game, but the Kangaroos remained in the game for a half.
Collingwood exploded after halftime with a six-goals-to-two third quarter to nudge their lead out to 53 at the final change.
The 17th-placed Kangaroos fought it out with a six-goal last quarter.
Caretaker coach Brett Ratten rued a lack of execution but relished his charges' effort against the AFL "benchmark" in Collingwood.
"Everybody (thinks it is) doom and gloom because they look at a loss beside your name, but today was a really good step," he said.
"What we've seen over a period now is the performance against Sydney was full of merit and then today wasn't exactly what we wanted for the four quarters, but jeez there was a bit to take away."
