COLLINGWOOD leaders Nathan Buckley and Nick Maxwell admit the Magpies have allowed other teams in the competition to catch them.

Buckley described Collingwood's 60-point loss to Carlton at the MCG on Friday night, which came after an opening-round loss to Hawthorn and an unconvincing win over Richmond, as a reality check, and conceded his team was at risk of falling back to the pack after two years near the top.

"We've had a fairly big wake-up call tonight," he said.

"Things just don't happen in this game; things change pretty quickly. You're either moving forward or you're moving backwards, or you might stagnate.

"We clearly haven't got the gap that we enjoyed towards the end of 2010 between where the club was and the competition.

"That gap clearly whittled away to nothing towards the end of last year, and perhaps we've got some catching up to do."

Collingwood captain Maxwell said it was up to he and the team's other senior players to lead by example and demand improvement from others.
 
"You can't stand still or people will go past you," Maxwell said.

"At the moment some of our guys are standing still, and they're not improving like other teams are."

Buckley said the Magpies were beaten by a Blues side that was "harder, more skilful, played as a team, and were more committed to the contest."

Rather than use first-quarter injuries to Luke Ball and Ben Reid as an excuse, he said his team's effort was lacking, and demanded it return before next week's clash with Port Adelaide.

He also challenged the Magpies players to rediscover the hunger that took them to a premiership in 2010 and to the Grand Final last year.

"This club has been in a similar position before, in 2010, and we have to see a similar commitment and endeavour, and a building of belief and hunger," Buckley said.

"When you've been at the pinnacle … when you've been a part of one of the better sides, you either come along for the ride and think that it's going to last forever, or you dig in, you roll your sleeves up, and you're prepared to be better.

"I've got a great belief in the characters at this footy club, and a great belief in the players' ability to dig deep and find something extra when they're challenged.

"And this challenge now for the club in the medium-term, from round three on, is a massive challenge.

"If we thought we were going along in the right direction in 2012 as coaches and as players, we've just found out that we'd better sharpen up a little bit."