The Magpies have slipped to a far from ideal 1-2 start to the season and face a critical blockbuster showdown against Richmond at the MCG on Friday night.
Round three losses for the Pies and Tigers to Geelong and the Western Bulldogs respectively have added plenty of spice to the clash.
Both sides have been widely tipped to play finals but, after round four, one of them will slump to a 1-3 record and face an uphill battle just to make the top eight.
Former Saint Ball is only too aware that the blowtorch will be aimed directly at the Westpac Centre or Punt Road after this weekend.
"It is (a massive game); there's not many that aren't these days," he told AFL.com.au.
"The Tigers are going to be smarting a bit after their loss.
"They're obviously in a very similar position to us, so it's going to be on again on Friday night."
The Tigers cost themselves four points many supporters would have penciled in at the start of the season, after only roaring to life in the second half of their two-point defeat to the hungry Western Bulldogs last Saturday.
Collingwood also largely had itself to blame for an 11-point loss to Geelong at the MCG, with wasteful ball use and an inability to take their chances in front of goal hurting the Pies.
"You can't keep giving the ball back to quality sides - you see what happened, they (Geelong) hurt us early in that last quarter," said Ball, who had 23 touches – including 13 contested – against the Cats.
"I was talking to (assistant coach) Scotty Burns and we feel like we're tracking about five or six out of 10, so we feel like there's plenty of upside – but that doesn't get you the four points."
Collingwood has a tough run in the next month, with matches against North Melbourne, Essendon and Carlton to come.
Richmond CEO Brendon Gale believes a finals win would be an acceptable result at Punt Road this season, and to give themselves the best chance of doing that the Tigers will want to beat Collingwood and Brisbane before facing Hawthorn and Geelong ahead of the bye.
Twitter: @TravKing_AFL
