COLLINGWOOD will nervously await scans to determine how long Steele Sidebottom will be sidelined by the knee injury that soured his 300th AFL game and his side's 35-point win over North Melbourne.

Sidebottom was subbed out of the match in the first quarter, with the club later confirming the nature of the injury to be an MCL. 

Sidebottom will have scans in the coming days to determine the severity of the injury.

MAGPIES v KANGAROOS Full match coverage and stats

"Well it looks like he'll miss a few weeks," coach Craig McRae said post-game.

"I'm not sure exactly - three to four potentially, he might be back after the bye. I don't know, we have to get scans and the like.

"But it's a shame - we sort of build the whole day up around what it means for him and all of us.

"And jeez he started well too - he was on fire early."

Jordan De Goey was at his dynamic best for the Pies, racking up 35 disposals, 10 inside-50s, 589 metres gained and one goal.

"I didn't want to say anything - I thought, 'Keep quiet on Jordy because he's having a ripping season,'" McRae said.

"Today was out of the box.

"The difference between Jordy maybe two or three years ago is his work ethic and his ability now to cover ground.

"You watch how hard he's running, you watch him get to a contest - and defensively as well, he's buying right into that.

"That was a pretty special game."

Caretaker coach Brett Ratten rued a lack of execution in North Melbourne's performance but relished his charges' effort against the competition "benchmark" in Collingwood.

"Everybody (thinks it is) doom and gloom because they look at a loss beside your name, but today was a really good step," he said.

"What we've seen over a period now is the performance against Sydney was full of merit and then today wasn't exactly what we wanted for the four quarters, but jeez there was a bit to take away."