Collingwood's comeback against Hawthorn proves that no-one at the club is ready to throw in the towel and give up on the season, according to Magpies coach Nathan Buckley.

Joking that he felt like jumping in his car and heading home 20 minutes into the first quarter as the Hawks piled on the goals, Buckley engineered his biggest comeback in 119 games as Collingwood coach.

Even as the margin became 43 points and questions about his future as coach were growing in everyone's mind as the season slipped away, Buckley kept his focus and under skipper Scott Pendlebury's leadership the Magpies worked their way back into the game.

In the end, the Magpies kicked nine goals to Hawthorn's one in the second half to win the rollercoaster race by 18 points and record their third win for the season.

"The players are clearly still invested… the players are clearly not ready to throw the towel in. No-one at the club is and you might have questioned that 15 minutes into the first quarter, but clearly when the question was asked they responded in the affirmative," Buckley said.



Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley speaks to his players during the quarter time break.

During that 15 minutes, Buckley was questioning himself, wondering how he could unlock what he knew the players could deliver.

He praised Pendlebury's efforts for leading the comeback after watching the skipper drive himself to contest after contest in the remaining three quarters.

"He was critical. His class continued to shine through as the game wore on.”

Buckley said he was thankful the players kept their mind on the task at hand, particularly given the potential pall any loss could cast over the club and his coaching future.

"I don't find it hard to focus but clearly the players were able to maintain their focus on the task at hand as well," Buckley said.

"I don't think we can ignore the fact that there is a pall over the club at the moment and there is a pall over me.

"That is a reality because it is a talking point, but if we perform better we'll be OK so we'll focus on trying to performing better… not trying to perform better, we will perform better."

Buckley said he wanted the players to enjoy the win and to continue to coach positively, despite his natural inclination to try to find out why the first quarter panned out as it did.

"I find it very hard personally not to look back and ask that question why," Buckley said.

"The overwhelming feeling you want the players to have is what we were able to produce, (and) to coach positively to look at what we were able to do and how we were able to do it and why basically we were able to get the result."

With the Brisbane Lions ahead, Collingwood faces a challenge in backing up the performance with another win.

Buckley understands the challenge.

"We have to work hard at actually blocking out what is potentially a result of our performance and come back down to the process and the things we can impact on."