AS MUCH as Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell is against grand final replays, his players say they'll be better for the experience this time around.

Maxwell's troops are champing at the bit to get back out there, with the experience of a grand final under their collective belts.

Youngster Sharrod Wellingham, who confessed he was feeling a little flat because of the enormity of the occasion last week, said the opportunity to play in two grand finals back-to-back was terrific.

"I think Jarryd Blair has played in nearly as many grand finals now as he has games, so I think blokes like that, who have played 20 games or so, and myself, only around the 50 mark, it's awesome," he said at the Westpac Centre on Wednesday afternoon.

"It might take a guy 10 years to play in a couple of grand finals, and we get it in two weeks, so the experience is awesome."

Steele Sidebottom, a 19-year-old who is as composed in big games as a young player could ever hope to be, admitted that even he was feeling nervous on Saturday.

"I felt a bit crook in the guts for most of the day," he said. "I don't often get nervous, so it was probably a bit of a rarity for me.

"I could just feel it in my guts pretty much the whole game - it wasn't enough to hold me back, but I suppose the nerves were there."

Experienced defender Ben Johnson, who was playing in his third AFL grand final, said the opportunity to play the same opponent two weeks in a row would benefit the side.

"We look at their game, and we get a lot of things out of it that we can either stop or improve on," he said.

"And vice-versa - we look at our game, and see what we can do better."