CTV > Mick Malthouse's post match press conference
CTV > Nick Maxwell's post match interview

COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse has cast serious doubt on his side's ability to match it with top eight contenders following the Magpies' 48-point loss to Essendon on Saturday afternoon.

A visibly displeased Malthouse said he couldn't explain the Pies' fade-out over the past fortnight, which has included a three-goal loss to North Melbourne and Saturday's belting from the Bombers.

"If I could [explain it], I'd be a genius and I'm certainly a long way from that," he said after the game.

"Quite frankly, I don't know whether we're good enough. We just haven't got the cattle at the moment playing well enough at either end of the ground.

"Perhaps, more importantly, in the middle. The clearance rate (34 to 38) was good in the middle, but there was nothing clean out of it."

While Malthouse questioned the number of players Essendon claimed to have unavailable in the lead-up to the game, he said he wasn't surprised with the form the Bombers presented.

"They've been one of the form sides. They've won four out of five games and lost by four points," he said.

"Why would I be surprised? We're not surprised, none of the players are surprised."

Malthouse summed up the loss as "terrible", and said it came as a result of his side backing itself into corners – forced to chase the Bombers after they forged ahead.

"Essendon was very good, we were very ordinary," he said.

"The eight goal [margin] was very reflective of how they played and how we played.

"We were extremely poor early, and we managed to get a goal at the end of the first quarter and then we got back and gave it up again.

"We never really got to the stage of putting enough together. We just seemed to give up soft goals, and once you give up soft goals, the momentum shifts.

"You go three points down to nine points to 15, and you're chasing again.

"You can only chase so many times. You can come at a side and if you get in front, you might be able to hold.

"But if you don't quite get there, and they kick away again, which they did, we didn't have any answers."

Malthouse praised the performance of defender Harry O'Brien, who played on Essendon's Scott Lucas and kept the spearhead to just two possessions.

"Harry has lived up to the way he played. He played with a lot of passion, he plays tight football and he plays to his utmost potential," he said.

"He doesn't leave anything out. It's a credit to him. But he was playing on a player, and I shouldn't downgrade Harry's game, but Lucas is clearly carrying a knee.

"On the same token, if you're out there, you're out there.

"So Harry was good."