COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse says his team must lift several notches or come up with new ways to start matching the competition’s best teams such as Geelong.

Malthouse was understandably downcast after watching the Magpies go down to the Cats by 27 points at the MCG on Thursday night.

Despite his team matching Geelong in contested possessions and going inside 50 as many times, Collingwood kicked away its chances of victory with some awful kicking for goal and also turnovers further afield.

While the coach lamented his side’s 7.12 return from 19 set shots, he said that was no excuse for the 18.14 (122) to 13.17 (95) loss.

“We played a very good side and they made us pay dearly,” Malthouse said after the match.

“I’m not going to blame shots on goal, Geelong were just better than us.

“Geelong are a very good football side. Geelong, playing at their absolute best and us at our absolute best; they’ll beat us because they’re better than us – and they’ll beat 14 other clubs.

“Whether they beat Hawthorn is another thing, I suppose.”

The Magpies missed some doozies in front of the sticks, with several costing them a chance of either kicking away early in the match or, later in the game, staying in touch of the rampaging Cats.

Leigh Brown, in particular, missed a couple he might usually kick – especially one early in the second term which would have put his team 26 points clear – but the coach wasn’t playing the blame game.

“We had 19 set shots [and] we kicked seven. I can’t remember Leigh having 19 shots [at goal] but you’d like those to be kicked,” Malthouse said in reference to the miss.

“Especially [because] he’s a reliable kick, generally, and for him to miss his first three [shots] is disappointing for him and for us.”

Malthouse said his team, while confident of victory heading into the match, didn’t boast the likes of Ablett, Bartel or Corey so it needed to find ways of making up for what it lacked in sheer brilliance.

“We’ve got to be very careful here – let’s not confuse great sides with wanting-to-be-great sides,” he said.

“There’s a distinct difference – they’re better than us. Geelong at their very, very best is deservedly ranked one or two in the competition.

“The other sides, including us, have got to do things differently or better and beat them.”

The coach said he had spoken to defender Heath Shaw regarding the defender’s second-term report for making contact with an umpire but refused to discuss the report itself.

It was a disappointing night not only for Shaw, who spent much of the second half off the ground with injury.

While the coach said he was only suffering cramp in both legs, the news was far worse for running defender Ben Johnson.

He has broken the fibula bone in his right leg and will spend an extended time on the sidelines.