THE TIME for Collingwood to reflect on 2016 won't come until the end of the season with Magpies coach Nathan Buckley determined to finish the year off as strongly as possible. 

The Magpies dropped out of the finals race after last week's disappointing loss to North Melbourne and sit 12th on the ladder with seven wins.

But Buckley says they can still win their five remaining games if they play well enough, given their improvement since the bye which has seen three victories from five matches. 

"I think we have shown that our game stacks up but we are not a good enough team to do it consistently," Buckley said. 

"The time for reflection will come but we're still head down, bum up, making sure that we're ready to go this week. [There is] still five wins to get if we play well enough." 

Travis Cloke, who is contracted until the end of 2017, will keep his spot despite being disappointing last week, while several experienced players remain unsigned beyond this season with Nathan Brown, Brent Macaffer, Jarryd Blair, Dane Swan and Alan Toovey still on the free agents list. 

Buckley once again said Swan would not make a decision on his future until the midfielder has an operation in October on his foot.

"We'd be keen to see him go on, but the ball is in Swanny's court. He has to work out whether that is achievable or not and then medically it has got to be possible," Buckley said.

The coach confirmed Ben Sinclair would miss this week after suffering a fourth concussion for the season on Friday night. 

Buckley said Sinclair might have to address the kamikaze way he plays to minimise the possibilities of being concussed and the 24-year-old hoped to play again this season.