COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley denies his side overdid its physical approach to Friday night's clash against Hawthorn.

Captain Nick Maxwell was reported for an off-the-ball hit on Paul Puopolo that left the Hawk bleeding from the nose while there were a handful of other undisciplined incidents.

"I don't think we were over the top," Buckley said after the match.

"I think it was going on from both sides for most of the night. I wouldn't have suggested that our discipline off-ball was an issue.

"I'll have to look back at the tape; there were some incidents I haven't seen yet behind the ball.

"I think both sides were fairly physical. It's a finals game."

Buckley refused to blame the umpires for the loss despite a number of decisions appearing to frustrate the coach.

"I was told before the game you'd need to commit homicide to get a free kick given against you - it didn't seem to be the case for us," Buckley said.

"The last thing I'm going to do is sit here and say that we lost the game because of umpiring, because that's not a fact."

Cloke kicked five goals for the second consecutive week, and Andrew Krakouer booted four in his second senior game back from a knee reconstruction.

Buckley said even though they would be playing for their season against the winner of Sunday's West Coast-North Melbourne clash, he was buoyed by the improvement in his team's ball movement.

"I think we're closer to where we need to get to," Buckley said.

"A lot of tonight was encouraging. We've given 130 points to Hawthorn, or they've taken 130 points off us three times this year, which is a major concern.

"But we nearly got 100 points of our own, which is going to be a winning score in most finals.

"It's just getting that balance right and in the end, it comes down to contested ball so for the most part, we feel like we're advanced on where we were three or four weeks ago."

While Chris Dawes didn't "set the world on fire" after being recalled, Buckley seemed content with his forward structure.

"Apparently Cloke played well last week because Dawes wasn't there. Dawes was there tonight and Cloke played OK," he said.

"That week stands in isolation. We're a better side with Chris as another tall target up forward, and giving 'Jolls' (Darren Jolly) a chop out in the ruck.

"Dawes was OK tonight. He was more competitive than he was two or three weeks ago and he had a couple of poor games leading into the Essendon game he was left out of.

"I think he's taken that on the chin and he came with some endeavour tonight, which was encouraging."

Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs