Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley freely admits his key position players were comprehensively outplayed by their Hawthorn counterparts, suggesting his big men weren't contributing enough to the team effort.

Asked about Travis Cloke's poor recent form, Buckley said all of the Magpies' key-position players were "poor" against the Hawks and had been for several weeks.

"[They] can't win a one-on-one in front of the ball, [they] can't win a one-on-one behind the ball and there's been too much left to too few," Buckley said.

Cloke continued his poor recent form, kicking 1.1 and taking just two marks against the Hawks, while the Pies' other tall forwards - Chris Dawes and Chris Tarrant - kicked just one goal apiece.

Although Buckley said he would consider making selection changes next round, he was not concerned his three-pronged forward line had been top heavy against the Hawks.

Buckley was said that the Hawks were the testing material of the 2012 premiership but believes they do have vulnerabilities.

Hawthorn is the form team of the AFL but has identified a number of areas in which the Magpies can bridge the gap.

Asked if a gap that existed between the two teams after their clash at the MCG on Saturday, Buckley took a literal approach, simply nominating the Hawks' 47-point winning margin.

However, he freely acknowledged the form that has taken the Hawks to seven consecutive wins and second spot on the ladder (pending the result of the Sydney Swans' clash with St Kilda on Sunday).

"I think they're playing, as we witnessed today, the best footy in the comp at the moment," Buckley said of the Hawks.

"Adelaide have probably got claims to that, Sydney have probably got claims to that. After them there are quite a few sides who are in the mix beyond that."

Buckley said the Hawks' emphatic win had been built on their dominance of contested possessions (147-137) and clearances (47-34), their quick ball movement and their ability to win one-on-one contests in attack and defence.

But Buckley said he now had to work out just how much culpability the Pies had to wear for the loss.

"Clearly if we want to get to where we want to get to, you've got to beat the best opposition. So we've had a real good look today and you go assess your systems and your processes and what's working and what's not, what was in our control and what wasn't," Buckley said.

"We didn't play our best today. And as I said, how much of it was Hawthorn's doing - and I thought they played particularly well … and how much of it was us [being] off our best footy?"

Perhaps with an eye on the teams' next clash, Buckley praised the Hawks' pinpoint kicking but suggested that it came with a risk factor teams could exploit.

"Everyone knows how damaging their kicking can be and they were picking - and had the courage to pick out - some pretty tough targets, especially early in the game, the first half," Buckley said.

"We rate our ability to defend. We didn't think we did it particularly well today. But, as I said, there was probably only inches in many of those opportunities especially early in the game that they took advantage of.

"We choose to put pressure on the football. We choose not to collapse and protect our defensive 50. We choose to try and turn the ball over in the front half.

"When we don't and when we're that half a foot off, well, we'll get penalised from it, especially against a side with such good kicking skills.

"So if sides want to take that risk against us generally, we take advantage of that, [but] today we weren't able to."

Nick Bowen is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nick