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THE MAGPIES will use the rest week to regroup for a big second half of the year, says midfielder Ben Johnson.

Johnson won the Bob Rose/Charlie Sutton medal for best-on-ground in Sunday's narrow loss against the Western Bulldogs. Although the Pies played out the game with injured pair Anthony Rocca and Ben Reid on the bench, he said it was hard to define the loss as "honourable" or "brave".

"It's disappointing. We'll go through the tapes and I'm sure there will be a lot of good we can take out of it," he told collingwoodfc.com.au.

"I'm sure there will also be some stuff we can work on.

"It's a terrible feeling when you lose, especially when we were up in the third quarter and could have got there."

The Pies go into the midseason break after two consecutive losses, and Johnson says the players will use the week off to realign their focus with nine home-and-away matches to go.

"It's always disappointing when you lose no matter what, but we do know how good we can be and how good we can play," he said.

"We're pretty confident we can bounce back, but I think the rest has come at a good time.

"We'll rest up, reassess, and prepare for a big second half.

"We'll train during the week and then take next weekend off.

"A lot of the boys will go away, I'd say. We'll have a get-together and chat about things during the week and then split up on the weekend, spend time with family and rest up."

Johnson, 27, is in fine personal form, with Sunday's best on ground being awarded for his excellent job on Bulldog Jason Akermanis.

The medal, named after the respective club legends, is given to the player "that best exemplifies the qualities that Sutton and Rose became renowned for over their careers – toughness, skill, courage, leadership, teamwork and sportsmanship".

"I was very surprised to win it. I couldn't believe it when they called my name," Johnson said.

"I reckon it's because I played on Jason Akermanis and did an alright job, and he's had such a big profile this season that it probably came from that.

"I knew Bob Rose pretty well from when he was around the club. I met him quite a few times.

"It's great to win something with his name on it. He's probably the second-best player to ever play at the club so it's a big honour."

"I've played on [Akermanis] a lot over the years, and we're pretty even so it was good to get up on him today," he said.

"I knew earlier in the week that I'd play on him and I set myself to do a job, and it worked out well."