Collingwood assistant coach Brenton Sanderson says the Pies gained plenty from Thursday's joint training session with Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.

The session involved six periods of match simulation and was overseen by AFL field umpires.

"Great to get on another AFL venue and have a hit-out against another team, and it was played in great spirits too," Sanderson said.

"It wasn't probably the bash and crash style you'll see in round one, but both teams were pretty mature with the way they approached it.

"We feel like we're ready to play, but obviously still five weeks before the start of the season ... so it was a good chance to have a hit-out against another team, but all very controlled, a lot more strategy based drills that we did.

"So a couple of centre bounce blocks, some forward 50 stoppage work, some kick-ins that the coaches could control the scenario."

Pies midfielder Rupert Wills was similarly impressed with the session.

"It was good to have a bit of a different opposition," Wills said.

"It's been a long summer of bashing each other every training session.

"It was a structured match simulation-type session. It was structured, but enough match play to get some run into the legs."