The Magpies were well beaten around the ball for much of the day at the MCG yet almost snatched victory with a final-term burst before the Giants held on for a four-point win.

"The overwhelming feeling for me is it's a waste - what a waste, unfortunately for the year," Buckley said post-match.

"We've got to give credit to the opposition. They were harder for longer, in the end.

"The contested ball and ground ball (differential) was just through the roof their way in the first three quarters ... the scoreboard hurt us in the third quarter and we just weren't able to drag that back," he said.

"So that's the game and when you're speaking at the end of your season it's a little bit difficult because you've still just lost a game of footy.

"You've also finished your season so it's difficult to know exactly how to handle that at the time."

The Magpies fought back in the final term, booting the last three goals of the game - but were unable to regain the lead.

Buckley said the fightback had almost made the loss "worse", as it reminded his side of what had been missing earlier in the game.

"The last quarter feels like it makes it worse to be honest, like we weren't able to get that momentum," he said.

"We felt like we didn't own the game for long enough until after we were a fair way down.

"Then we showed trademark resilience and trademark spirit to fight our way back into the contest and in the end ... we've fallen short again and we feel pretty average from it. But what if? It's a waste."

The loss comes almost a year after Collingwood's agonising loss to West Coast, but Buckley said the preliminary final defeat felt "worse" than the aftermath of last year's grand final.

"We had a strong year, and in many ways it was stronger than last year, but we fell two steps short of where we ultimately want to be," he said.

Australian Associated Press