COLLINGWOOD was "schooled" and "bullied" by Port Adelaide on Saturday, but Nathan Buckley is refusing to give up on playing finals for the first time since 2013.
The Pies were pushed aside by a tougher, more direct Power unit as they fell to a 31-point loss despite winning more contested ball and only narrowly falling short in tackles.
Buckley said they were beaten by "the best opposition we've had" this season as his team fell to an undesirable 5-8 win-loss record.
They will likely be two games out of the eight by the end of the round, and could fall as low as the bottom four depending on results.
"It looked like they bullied us around the ball, to be honest," Buckley said.
"They definitely were able to brush us off. Our tackles didn't stick, especially late, and it looked like their confidence grew and they were able to run through us and we weren't able to run through them.
"It wasn't just through the midfield; our forwards were well beaten.
"Their front half looked like it was stacked full of blokes who looked like they were going to rip the game apart at any point.
"They had bigger bodies right across the ground – [Sam] Powell-Pepper has played half a season but he was brushing off anyone that wanted to try and tackle him.
"If you look at it man by man, they were bigger than us and we haven't been shown up for that for a long time. That was quite significant."
WATCH: Nathan Buckley's full post-match press conference
The Pies were physically outmuscled and denied the chance to move the ball the way they wanted, with the Power forcing them wide while taking the more direct route themselves.
Despite being slated to face five current top-eight sides in their last six games, Buckley said finals were still on their agenda.
"We're not giving up on it. We've got to keep finding our best and improving our best because it's a tough comp," he said.
"Our only response is to butter up and attack Hawthorn next week and get back on the winner's list.
"We got schooled today by a side that's won eight games; they're three games ahead of us and they're top four.
"It's pretty tight, so a loss is not fatal but it doesn't help."
The Pies' forward line didn't pack a huge punch with the Power's defence getting on top despite some decent moments from Alex Fasolo and Darcy Moore.
They'll have some decisions to make at selection this week with Mason Cox kicking six goals in the VFL on Saturday, while Jamie Elliott and Travis Varcoe are chances to be available after injury.
All up, Buckley said they were simply outplayed by a rampant Power side.
"All over the field, it looked like if they wanted to go somewhere, they were able to get there more often and when we wanted to go somewhere, we weren't able to get there," he said.
"You've got to give the opposition great credit. Our work rate wasn't exceptional, but it wasn't poor. Our contest wasn't exceptional, but it wasn't poor.
"But, we came up against an opposition that bested us in both."
