Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley hopes he is seeing the start of a more relaxed umpiring outlook this AFL season.

Only 27 frees were paid in Wednesday night’s start of the NAB Challenge in which the Magpies lost to Geelong by two points.

“I prefer it that way – to see that is heartening,” he said.

“As long as there’s consistency in how it’s applied, then you can play around it and coach around it.”

Buckley added he had noticed more lenient decisions late last month when VFL umpires controlled a Collingwood intraclub game.

The AFL has directed umpires to allow more body-on-body contact in marking contests.

“I thought there was a bit more relaxation on grappling into a (marking) contest and not just that, but in ground-level balls.

“I don’t mind that, but once a bloke was pinged, they really pinged him.

“What I saw last night was a little bit more of that, allowing the bodywork into the contest.”

It was a solid hitout for Collingwood, with star onballer Scott Pendlebury shining in his first game as captain.

The two-time club best and fairest and four-time All-Australian has taken over from Nick Maxwell, who was captain for five seasons.

“You give the bloke a title and all of a sudden someone wants you to grow an extra leg or be faster or taller than you were before,” Buckley said.

“In the end, Pendles will be himself and the best version of himself.

“Every year, year on year, he’s improved and there’s no reason why he wouldn’t do that.”

Buckley was encouraged by Wednesday night’s clash, which was played at a high standard.

The only real setbacks were injuries to young players Nathan Freeman (hamstring) and Tim Broomhead (hand).

“They’re setbacks, part of the game, but they both got a taste of it and that will fuel them for their understanding of what’s required,” Buckley said.

Collingwood’s next pre-season game is on February 22, against Richmond in Wangaratta.

Buckley is confident that stars such as Dane Swan and Ben Reid will be ready by then after sitting out the Geelong match.

“Rather than push guys up for NAB one when they’re 95 per cent ready, let’s get another two or three training sessions into them and be ready for the week after,” he said.

“All things being equal, 80 per cent of the guys who didn’t play last night will be available for selection.”

Collingwood will need to hit the ground running next month for the start of the regular season, given their first three opponents are preliminary finalists Fremantle, Sydney (away) and Geelong.

“We’re far from thinking that we’re where we need to be,” Buckley said.

“But after four quarters of evidence, we weren’t expecting to be there anyway.”