COLLINGWOOD coach Craig McRae has conceded that Magpies supporters would be extremely disappointed with his team's performance against Brisbane on Saturday night.

The 27-point loss to the reigning premier is their second-biggest defeat for the year, and only their second double-digit loss since going down by 52 points to Greater Western Sydney in Opening Round.

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"If you're a Collingwood supporter at home, you'd think we played probably as bad as we've played since round zero. That's real," McRae said.

"But that would be disrespecting Brisbane's hunt and pressure, and we invited pressure by handballing way too much."

Brisbane dominated Collingwood's midfield in the third quarter, winning clearances 20 to nine, while the Lions' tall forwards Logan Morris and Henry Smith kicked nine goals between them.

Logan's career-high six goals follows on from Fremantle's Patrick Voss who also kicked a bag of six against Collingwood two weeks earlier.

The dominance of those two key forwards led to questions as to whether the undermanned Magpies' defence is struggling without veteran Jeremy Howe who is out with injury.

"Yeah, that's real. And look, Howie hasn't played those weeks. So there's a like, oh, are we too heavily reliant on Howie?. Yeah, there's some concerns. Dealing facts. Yeah, absolutely."

McRae is hopeful that Howe will feature in next Thursday night's clash against Hawthorn.

"I hope so. Yeah, he's positioning himself to be available. He's got to get through training and things like that," he said.

Four weeks ago, Collingwood was sitting 10 points clear on top of the ladder. Saturday night's loss is their third in four weeks, continuing a worrying trend heading into finals.

But McRae, a self-proclaimed optimist, is feeling positive that his club will turn things around.

"Lessons, learning and growing. We're not going to stand still. I said to the players here, we'll see you Tuesday with a smile on your face, ready to get better," he said.

"And that's where we're going to live. We can't afford to be smashed in the contest. And we can't afford to give the opposition the ball by just handling way too much and inviting pressure.

"There are things that we're going to get better. But we're back here in four or five days. So we've got a great chance to turn it around real quick."

McRae was pleased that Jordan De Goey and Bobby Hill both made it through the game unscathed. It was the premiership-winning duo's first matches since round eight and round 15, respectively. The two shared game time with Hill starting as sub, replacing De Goey in the third quarter.

"We were coming in with a bit of a plan to get Jordy moving and get Bobby into the game where needed. And both pulled up well, I think. Yeah, it's a long game for those two guys. They're huge, important players for us when they're fitting well. And we're trying to get them fitting well. Yeah, it's a big step forward," he said.

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan was thrilled with his team's response following their 66-point defeat to Gold Coast last week.

"I expected the group to respond. I didn't know whether they would be able to respond well enough to win, because we're playing a really good opponent tonight who was much more experienced than what we were," said Fagan.

"It was really pleasing with a younger team tonight to be able to come here and play in a big game in front of a big crowd and produce a really tough performance."

Of particular note, Fagan was pleased with the performance of Morris, who has had an exceptional year in the absence of retired premiership star Joe Daniher.

"Yeah, he's a great player, young Logan. I mean, he's such a surprise packet," Fagan said.

"When he turned up, I just didn't know he was going to turn into the player that he's turned into very, very quickly. I mean, he's in his second year.

"He's a premiership player, and he's kicked six tonight. He's a level-headed young man. He loves his footy. He was so disappointed in his game last week, and it was good to see him respond in the manner that he did tonight."

One downside for the reigning premiers was losing defender Ryan Lester in the second quarter with concussion.

"Yeah, he's (Lester) OK. I mean, obviously he's got concussion, so he'll be in the protocols for 12 days. But hopefully it's one that he recovers from quickly," Fagan said.

"You always wish that for your players, whether that be in your team or the opposition's team. So I think he'll be OK. He was all right after the game."