Midfield veteran Scott Burns says his team knows how good Melbourne is and won’t be complacent when the sides clash next Monday at the MCG.

Burns, who at 32 is playing some of the best football of his distinguished 232-game career, believes Melbourne to be "the best one (win) and nine (loss) opponent probably ever".

"They’re a bit stiff Melbourne, they’ve obviously had a lot of injuries, could’ve won another three or four, which puts them about break even at this point in time with all those blokes coming back," Burns told the media at the Lexus Centre on Wednesday.

"So we know how good they are when they’ve got everyone out on the track.

"There won’t be any complacency because we know how good they are, so it’s not as if we’re coming up a team that’s been belted by ten goals every week.

"They’ve been very competitive with a lot of their key players out, and all those younger blokes who have come through have been playing pretty good footy."

Collingwood has been playing inspired football, and with seven wins from the first ten weeks, sits fourth on the ladder.

Burns has been one of the main reasons for the club’s exceptional start and consistent performance, leading the way with tough midfield play. He is second in the league for clearances, and leads Collingwood for effective tackles with 48.

He puts down his excellent form to a solid preseason which has led to a strong fitness base.

"I’m just getting through games and getting through training, which is the most important thing, and I had a good preseason.

"I reckon the most amount of sessions I’ve missed in a row is probably one, I’ve missed one here and one there, just makes a lot of difference.

"You just get your base up. If you have an interrupted preseason, and you get one or two niggles during the year, then you’re always battling a bit to get yourself right.

"I think probably the last three preseasons I’ve hardly missed, which has been really handy."

While the form of experienced players like Burns, Tarkyn Lockyer and Shane O’Bree has been great, Burns acknowledged the way the young players have either continued to improve or emerged in their senior roles.

"We knew how good Pendles (Scott Pendlebury) was, he played some decent footy last year, and Thommo (Dale Thomas) did as well.

"So we were hoping there would be gradual improvement, which they’ve done, yeah they’ve been fantastic.

"I guess the unknown is the blokes who have come in for their first years, like (Alan) Toovey, (Tyson) Goldsack, (Brad) Dick, they’ve all done their role when they’ve come in, so it’s been great, and Coxy (Shannon Cox) was really good early in the year.

Burns also said captain Nathan Buckley, who is nearing a return having not played all this season with back-related hamstring issues, is not far away. 

"He’s been going pretty well, he’s obviously picked up the last couple of weeks.

"We’ve got that bye in a couple of weeks, whether or not he’s able to play a half there for Willy, just to get some of the cobwebs out, and hopefully he comes in that one after with Sydney."