Collingwood's star forward Travis Cloke has told critics of coach Nathan Buckley to get off his back.
Last weekend's loss to Adelaide was Collingwood's fifth defeat in their past six games. The Magpies have dropped to ninth with a 9-8 win-loss record ahead of Sunday's crucial round-19 clash with fifth-placed Port Adelaide at the MCG.
Collingwood haven't missed the finals since 2005 and in two seasons under Buckley they've finished fourth and eighth.
"Bucks has been fantastic this year," Cloke told a media conference on Monday.
"He's pushing us in the right direction. Finals is still within our reach.
"Morale's great and I can't believe that's even getting tossed up.
"I don't know why people are questioning Bucks. It's quite disappointing.
"I still think we're going to have a crack at finals this year. Don't wipe us off."
Buckley was critical of the way the umpires handled Cloke's wrestling matches with Adelaide defender Daniel Talia.
Cloke finished the game with three goals but agreed with his coach that a couple of incidents may have been missed.
"There was a little bit of sailing. My jumper looked like it was going to go for a nice sail in the wind," Cloke said.
"The new rules come in, you're allowed to engage and push and shove a lot more now.
"But I still think it favours the defenders. They get away with a bit more.
"It's also the interpretation of the umpire."
Cloke says he likes to watch the Friday game on TV to see how the weekend's matches will be officiated.
"Normally you can watch a Friday night game and see how they're going to be called for the weekend," Cloke said.
"If they're varying from the Friday night to a Sunday game, umpires are different, but it's a bit disappointing to see them changing so much."
Cloke says he doesn't blame defenders for testing the limits of the rules.
"Good luck to them," he said.
"It's a physical game of footy."
The 108kg Cloke says he enjoys tests of strength including Sydney forward Lance "Buddy" Franklin's battles with Hawthorn's Josh Gibson on Friday night.
"Watching Bud move around and some of the marks he took, it still gets me pretty excited," Cloke said.
Cloke says Sunday's game will be like a grand final for the Magpies.
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