A frustrated Nathan Buckley doesn't want Collingwood to accept mediocrity despite its youth after the Magpies slumped to a fifth defeat for the season on Saturday.
The Pies were beaten by 15 points by Carlton at the MCG, trailing for nearly the entire contest and falling to last year's wooden-spooners.
It continued what has been a poor start to the season for the Pies, who entered the year as finals hopefuls but look headed for a third-straight year out of the top-eight.
Buckley said after the loss that his team needed more contributors but that the inexperience in his line-up shouldn't be an excuse for the club's difficulties so far this season.
"We want to be playing better. But what do we do? Do we cry over spilt milk and throw the hands in the air and say we can't improve it or be better, or even worse that we accept being mediocre? No, we don't," Buckley said.
"There's a lot of fairly solid conversations that take place in the background and there's still a high expectation for our ability to execute what we do and to bring the work-rate to the table as well.
"No one's happy about where we're sitting."
Tim Broomhead (ankle) and Ben Reid (shoulder) were also injured in the loss, but despite the defeat Buckley said the club was not worrying about outside expectations about where the Pies should be sitting on the ladder.
"We can say whatever we like, but in the end all that matters is what we do. We still have higher expectations of where we're performing at the moment. We still expect to be more competitive for longer than what we are at the moment," Buckley said.
"We can do better and we're going to keep working to play better football."
Despite the Magpies' troubles in attack (they took only five inside-50 marks on Saturday), Buckley indicated there would be no straightforward passage back to the seniors for veteran goalkicker Travis Cloke.
Cloke was dropped for the Pies' Anzac Day clash with Essendon and was ruled out of the VFL this weekend with a back injury, and Buckley said the 29-year-old would need to show he can execute his role before returning.
"He's going to need time to prove he's going to help us when he comes up into senior footy," Buckley said.
"The idea that Travis Cloke coming back in and Nathan Brown or an experienced player coming back into the side and we would be a better 22 for it is flawed. Because we would select them if that was the case."
The Magpies meet the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba next Saturday night and will be aiming to notch their third win of the year. Buckley said the club could turn around its form in time to make something of 2016
"It's round seven and we would love to have been better placed. We would love to have been more consistent and to have consolidated a core group of players who are going to play our way. We have been unable to do that to this point," Buckley said.
"We'll keep looking for it. We want more continuity with our senior 22 but form and injury has conspired against that. We'd like more continuity with the way we play the game but we've been unable to find that."
"Ultimately that's the challenge. It's a tough caper."
