I was at the game, and the key difference was that, every now and then, Collingwood would string together 4 or so kicks and marks. And that was partly because some of their players were pretty good contested marks, but mainly because they got into space.
When coming out of defence we'd head out the wing, but then go back into the crowded corridor - made no sense.
Nonetheless, there were sizeable chunks of the 3rd and 4th quarters where we dominated - without reward. They played better than the final score suggested.