Collingwood will test itself against a red-hot Melbourne in Monday's huge Queen's Birthday clash.

The Magpies improved their record to 7-4 at the halfway mark of the season with an imposing 61-point victory over Fremantle on Sunday at the MCG.

It was pointed out to coach Nathan Buckley after the game that the only top team Collingwood had beaten in that stretch had been Adelaide, with its four losses coming at the hands of Hawthorn, Greater Western Sydney, Richmond and Geelong.

Although Buckley conceded the Pies' record against this year's contenders had not been good to date, he was confident their best football could stand up against those teams and, particularly, Melbourne.

"We've got some boys who are in pretty good form. We've had a really solid first half to the season," Buckley said.

"You don't take that for granted when your players are in form because its hard-earned and your opposition don't want that to continue, so they put tactics in place.

"But we've got some boys who have put together some really solid football and we've shown that our best footy is pretty good.

"You're right about who we've played and who we've beaten and who we haven't and that's where the growth and the opportunity is for us to continue to improve.

"Next week is against a side that I think is in the top four, so it gives us an opportunity to test ourselves against one of the better teams in the comp at the moment and probably one of the better in-form teams."

Buckley expected the Magpies would regain backman Jeremy Howe (knee) for the Queen’s Birthday clash, but said forward Ben Reid (leg) would be "touch and go".

In Reid's absence on Sunday, 25-year-old debutant Brody Mihocek stood up to kick four goals, showing enough to suggest his long journey to the AFL would pay off.

"His first 20 minutes he was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. He was excited, a kid in a lolly shop," Buckley said.

"It's easy to forget but he's travelled a fair journey, the story is amazing, and (he) got his opportunity and really showed us what he's showed us in the last couple of weeks (in the VFL) in that role.


"You would be a brave man to predict that he would hit the scoreboard the way he hit it, but his contests and some of his back-with-the-flights to create ground balls for his teammates in that role were exceptional.

"So that's a fair debut, isn't it?"

With the Dockers missing star ruckman Aaron Sandilands, Collingwood won the midfield battle decisively. Magpies captain Scott Pendlebury (29 possessions and one goal) played a key role in that as he played a loose tag on Fremantle counterpart Nat Fyfe to great effect.

"I thought Pendles' job on Fyfe was first-class. He looked after him at stoppages and in transition and I think he only had the eight touches at half-time and Pendles had had a fair impact himself," Buckley said.

"Fyfe had 10 (possessions) in the last but he only had 14 to three quarter time. That in itself is a pretty impressive effort given he's been one of the in-form players of the comp.

"It probably shows you just as much that you don't need a hard tag to look after a player if you're playing the type of football that you want to around the ball."