Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley says forward Travis Cloke is benefiting from the hard work undertaken since he was dropped to the VFL earlier in the year. 

Cloke was one of the Magpies' best in the 32-point win over Greater Western Sydney on Saturday afternoon, booting four goals and pulling down 12 marks (five contested) to finish as the dominant forward on the ground.

The 29-year-old with one of the more famous names in the history of the Collingwood Football Club lost his place in the senior side in April and then spent six weeks in the VFL.

After returning in round 11, Cloke was again sent back to the lower league before getting a call up in round 14.

Buckley said the two-time All Australian and 2010 premiership player has worked hard to regain his place in the side.

"As big as it was blown up externally, all it is is [that] we think we can do better at senior level now and you need to do a bit more work, so he has approached that really well," Buckley said after the match.

"I don't think that this game is going to be the pinnacle of that. He is still going to reap the rewards of the work that he is doing at the moment.

"As we've said all along, we want to get him back to his best footy not just for the rest of this year, but for the rest of his career, which is going to be as long as he wishes it to be at this stage."

Cloke received great support from fellow big man Jesse White, who kicked three goals and had 10 marks in addition to his efforts in the ruck.

Buckley said Cloke and White gave team mates further up the ground plenty of options when going forward, with the Magpies finishing with 67 inside 50s to the Giants' 49.

"That's the best performance they have put together for quite a while," Buckley said.

"In many ways we've exposed the football that we are capable of.

"It was the type of footy, for the most part, that we like to play. The first quarter was a little bit shy of it and we were sloppy in the last, but the second and third quarters were dominant."

Buckley also praised the efforts of ruckman Brodie Grundy, who bounced back from a poor opening term to have the better of Shane Mumford and Rory Lobb.

"I thought Brodie's last three quarters against his direct opponent were as good as he has played. He is in a sweet vein of form at the moment so it is good to see him get reward for effort," Buckley said.

The result lifts Collingwood to a 7-8 win-loss record with seven rounds to go, a position Buckley said was "probably two wins shy of really being in contention to be honest".

"We've really got to keep this form up when we go to Adelaide next week and we are looking forward to that," Buckley said.

"Our players are improving and performing of recent times and we're just wanting to enjoy getting reward for the work put in."

The Magpies face the Crows at Adelaide Oval next Saturday night.