Collingwood will approach this week as "business as usual" amid calls for the club's emerging midfielders to embrace responsibility against Melbourne on Sunday.

Magpies football department boss Neil Balme said on Sunday the club would not panic despite Saturday's shock loss to the Saints and having won only three of their past 14 matches.

These were against bottom-placed Carlton in round 19 and Geelong in round 22 of last year - the Cats would also miss the finals - and against the Tigers in round two last year thanks to a last-gasp shot at goal by Brodie Grundy.

Coach Nathan Buckley said he won't be afraid to make changes, if required, and one is likely to be Marley Williams, who has had scans on a mid-foot sprain and will visit a radiologist.

"It must mean it's not absolutely certain what's up, so it must be good, I would hope," Balme said.

Key forward Darcy Moore was seen hobbling on Sunday but did not report any injury to Balme when they met at the Magpies' VFL clash.

While a 1-2 record, with Melbourne to come, would not normally be a major cause for concern, the mood of disbelief among the Pies' chiefs post-match on Saturday suggested otherwise.

Balme said there were no plans for a major review, in lieu of the poor record since late June, insisting the Pies would continue to review their matches "one at a time, I would have thought".

Small forward Alex Fasolo also declared it was "not panic stations yet by any means" but admitted the Pies had been "sliced to pieces" by the Saints.

What a review of this season would show is that, in terms of efficiency, once the Pies enter their forward 50, they have struggled. They rank last for scoring (-13 per cent) once the ball enters their forward 50 compared to their opposition. They also rank last for marks inside 50 (8.3 per game).

The lack of penetration through the midfield has had an impact on Moore and fellow key forward Travis Cloke, with the latter even thrown into the ruck against the Saints, prompting AFL great Wayne Carey to suggest he could soon find himself out of the side.

Buckley was disappointed by the lack of pressure shown, with seven forwards managing only a combined five tackles.

Fasolo was among those who did not register a tackle but insisted it had been a point of emphasis for him in recent years.

Amid what will be a public dissection of the Pies, former skipper Nick Maxwell has defended the use of Scott Pendlebury across half-back.

Pendlebury spent most of the clash against the Saints patrolling the defensive half - he was inserted into the middle for a spell two goals into the Saints' six-goal, third-term burst – but Maxwell said this was not because he was dealing with sore ribs.

"No, I think it's because of that class aspect. He has gone into the midfield over the last two weeks for five or 10 minute stints in the last quarter when they've needed him," Maxwell said on Channel Seven's Game Day.

Maxwell said the Magpies had lacked quality kicking off half-back for a couple of years, and urged the midfield group outside of Pendlebury to show leadership.

"You might say we're robbing Peter to pay Paul by taking him out of the midfield, but you've got your vice-captain Taylor Adams in there, you've got [Jack] Crisp, [Adam] Treloar, [Jordan] De Goey, [Levi] Greenwood," he said.

"There's so many guys and so much depth around that midfield that those guys have to stand up, you can't just rely on Scott Pendlebury to do that every week. Now that they've got that opportunity, they have to do the job."