COACH Mick Malthouse says Collingwood needs to improve its strike rate, after failing to convert on a lopsided inside-50 count in the 54-point win over Gold Coast on Saturday night.

The Magpies had 77 inside-50 entries to the Suns' 41 but only managed to kick 19 goals while Gold Coast added 11.

"We went in there 77 (78) times and we have gone 34 per cent, not even a 50 per cent strike rate so that is pretty poor," Malthouse said.

"That is something we need to address, we have got to be better than that, I would rather not go in 78 times, I would rather go in 68 and be far more effective.

"Coaches nit-pick, I will go through this and find a variety of errors and if there is a common theme we will address it."

Malthouse was full of praise for the Suns, who are coached by former Collingwood assistant Guy McKenna.

"They are a good football side; they just lack experience that goes with playing a lot of AFL," Malthouse said.

"They are extremely well coached.

"I think we had a very good late first [quarter] and a good 28 minutes in the second quarter and from there it was an arm wrestle and full credit to them."

The Collingwood coach also singled out ruckman Cameron Wood for praise after a game-high 27 hit-outs.

"That is probably the best he has played this year in the ruck," Malthouse said.

"The midfield at Gold Coast is generally one of experience and their clearance rate is high for AFL standards and we needed to address that and I thought Cameron Wood was good."

Both Dale Thomas and Ben Johnson left the ground with what appeared to be knee and shoulder injuries, however, Malthouse said both players were "all right", with Thomas suffering a corked leg.