Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley is adamant his AFL team has improved this season, despite missing the finals again.

After two months of close losses, the Magpies fell off the cliff last week when Richmond trounced them by 91 points.

But Buckley says Collingwood have made strong progress and is determined that they rally on Friday night against Geelong, who must win to stay in the finals hunt.

“We’re so much better placed than we were 12 months ago and you can understand how difficult that would be to say, sitting here after our last result,” Buckley said.