COACH Nathan Buckley says Collingwood will face Hawthorn in Friday night's qualifying final at the MCG "comfortable" with its position after a strong performance against Essendon on Saturday night.

With Travis Cloke back to his powerful marking self as the main attacking target, the Pies returned to form after a 49-point loss to West Coast last weekend.

Contested ball (142 to 111) was up, inside 50s (58 to 50) were nearly double what they managed against the Eagles, and Cloke took an equal career-best 16 marks, seven of which were contested.

Buckley said the Pies' hunt around the contest was "excellent", although conceded there were still areas that needed work.

"Our defence and our willingness to press up in our front half was a lot better," Buckley said.

"We didn't use the ball particularly well and we'll have to sharpen up in that area but if I was to list the priorities I'd take the first two, and we really need to work on the third.

"We don't think we're playing flush at the moment and there are plenty of areas of improvement."

When the Pies met the Hawks in round 17, they lost by 47 points.

With a wry smile, Buckley said there was "plenty" they learned from that defeat, starting with a need to "try and keep the ball out of their hands".

"We've got to pressure the ball carrier as much as we can. They're very surgical with their skills," he said.

"They kick it very well, they run very hard, they defend very well, they're a good contested ball side.

"They're going to be a huge challenge but we're more than comfortable with our lot and where we're at and looking forward to the challenge."

Cloke's form, which resulted in five goals, four behinds, was a key plus.

Buckley said it had been important to try and change things up in what had become a stagnant forward line, which is why the down-on-confidence Chris Dawes was dropped.

"[Cloke] hasn't kicked a goal in the last couple of games and we've had really poor losses and poor results so it's easy to go to the biggest, tallest, highest profile bloke who generally cops the flak," he said.

"Cloke's efforts tonight were excellent. His movement was good, his marking was excellent and he kicked a few goals, which is what you expect of your forwards.

"We needed to change things up. Clearly our mix forward of the ball wasn't working for us and has probably been far from flush for the majority of the year.

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

Jackson Paine, Dawes' replacement, kicked 1.2, and "competed and contested" alongside "cameos" from other medium forwards. 

Tyson Goldsack will have his ankle examined this week after hurting it in the third quarter while Jarryd Blair is expected to be available after missing with groin soreness.

Buckley rated Andrew Krakouer's one-goal game - his first for the year after a February knee reconstruction - as "excellent".

Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs