The unusual appearance of Jake Carlisle, a day after his career-best 19 marks, at St Kilda Beach among the Magpies soaking in the water on Monday was preceded by Pendlebury being heckled about the 64-point defeat, their fourth in their past five matches.

"I walked past Albert Park Primary this morning to get a coffee and a few kids started singing the [Bombers'] theme song, [which was] certainly rubbing it in," Pendlebury said.

While he memorably accused some of his midfield teammates of "cheating" with their lack of effort in a loss to the Bombers last year he insisted the club had made significant strides in that regard. He did, however, concede the performance on Sunday rivaled Collingwood's round-one home thrashing by Fremantle as its worst performance of the season.

"In a lot of games this year we've shown fight and an ability to claw back . . . and we didn't have that," Pendlebury said. "We're not saying we didn't try, [but] we didn't crack in hard enough."

He was at a loss to explain the result, saying the club’s long injury list not a factor.

‘‘Earlier in the year when we were playing good footy it was with the same names,’’ he said. ‘‘If you look at all the good sides, they can cover injuries.’’

Pendlebury said all the players must share responsibility but suggested his midfield pack needed the most improvement.

‘‘Whenever you have 18-19 blokes that didn’t win their position you’re coming from a long way back,’’ he said.

‘‘The contested ball and clearances, we’re just not getting it done there.

‘‘All over the ground we were beaten yesterday.’’

After round 12 the Magpies held fourth position, with a 16 per cent buffer over fifth-placed Geelong. The four losses since then since dragged their percentage from 122.1 to 106.6. Given they trail the Cats, now fourth, by three wins, Pendlebury conceded it was "probably unrealistic" to hope for a top-four berth.

The captain said the bye this weekend had "come at a good time" as it would allow the players a chance to pinpoint their deficiencies, particularly for contested disposals and clearances, and formulate ways to overcome them, before their four-day break starting on Thursday.

Pendlebury said he expected Collingwood's next match, against 10th-placed Adelaide on Sunday week, to be a "finals-like game" because of each team's position on the ladder.

"We're in a dogfight to stay in the finals. I'm sure I'm the same as the other boys: we're ready for it," he said.

The Brownlow Medal contender also downplayed the culpability of Dane Swan to the Magpies' current plight. The three-time club champion is averaging 25.4 disposals this season, the first time he has dipped below 30 since 2008.

"There's a lot of us who aren't playing our best footy, but all together we'll get out of it," Pendlebury said.

With aap