COLLINGWOOD will turn to its 60-point thrashing at the hands of Carlton in round three for extra motivation ahead of the rematch this Friday night, says forward Chris Dawes.
Dawes said the Pies would use more recent games for analytical preparation, but he conceded they would revisit the shock defeat, which turned their season around and was their most recent loss, if they needed an additional boost.
"If you need any extra motivation, certainly the players who played in that round-three match can look at that and say we weren't happy with the performance we put in that night and use this as a bit of a chance for redemption," he said on Tuesday.
"The good thing about such a poor performance … is that we used that as a springboard to what we have been able to put in place over the past 10 weeks.
"That's part of what the rivalry does; it brings out the best in both teams.
"That said, we were pretty poor last time but we use that to keep going on the track we're going [on], to try and stay top of the ladder."
Chris Tarrant, Alan Didak and Ben Sinclair are expected to be available but it depends on how they train this week, while Scott Pendlebury said on the weekend he would be right for the big game.
Dawes said he was unaware of rumours the flu was sweeping the club.
"There could be; not that I know of. I feel healthy so that's all I know. I haven't heard of that one," he said.
Dawes has filled a new role in 2012 that involves backing up ruckman Darren Jolly in a job the now-retired Leigh Brown carried out in the past few years.
He said he was continuing to come to grips with the role but knew he needed to improve his work in the forward line, which has seen him kick just seven goals this season.
"It's a change of role for me. Still, I'm playing 80 per cent of the game up forward and I've been sub-par in that department," he said.
"As far as rucking goes, it's a new skill that I've got to learn and I feel like I'm slowly improving at that.
"But that is only a small part of my role in the team and I've got to start helping in terms of holding more marks and kicking more goals."
The Pies and Blues will compete for the annual Peter Mac Cup, which was introduced in 1993 and is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
The aim is to raise funds and awareness for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, which Dawes and Carlton midfielder Andrew Carrazzo visited on Tuesday.
"Because it's such a high profile game, it's great that we can use that profile to give to such a worthy cause," Dawes said.
Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.
