The return of pressure forward Beau McCreery was not enough to lift Collingwood to victory over Fremantle at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.

The Magpies' pressure forward has been missing since Round 15 due to a hamstring injury, and he had a whopping 15 tackles and earned four free kicks in his first game back, splitting his time between attack and the midfield.

It's the first game he and fellow defensive forward Lachie Schultz have played together since Round 12, with the Pies forced to restructure their forward line in many of the intervening games, with Bobby Hill also absent for the past month.

"Beau's huge for us, isn't (he)?" Collingwood coach Craig McRae said at his post-match press conference.

"I'm surprised (the media) hasn't mentioned how much we've missed him.

"Maybe (it was because) we were winning games, but he's so important to us.

"He can go in centre bounce, he's just electrifying.

"He's powerful, and 15 tackles is unbelievable for a forward.

"It was great to have Beau back and what he provides for us."

Sunday was Schultz's second match back from a hamstring injury, having also suffered a concussion earlier in an interrupted season.

Despite the pressure and winning the inside 50 count by 23, Collingwood's poor efficiency in the front half prevented it from putting a buffer on the scoreboard, and the absences of Jeremy Howe and Dan Houston to respective injuries proved telling against a tall Dockers forward line.

"(I) can't help but feel frustrated by that because (we) feel like we did so much right and we don't get the nourishment of a win," McRae said.

"Our connection inside 50 wasn't the level it has been, but also, I thought we did enough right to get the job done today."

The Pies' buffer on top of the AFL ladder has been trimmed to just two points, with today's result following a loss to Gold Coast last Friday night.

That too was a loss by less than a goal, while on Sunday Collingwood led Freo by 22 points in the last quarter before the visitors' barnstorming finish.

"This is not something you've ever got handled," McRae said on managing moments late in games.

"Every game is opportunities live and delayed moments.

"Managing those moments is something we'll forever need to do, and if the scoreboard is an indication, we haven't managed it well enough.

"We've lost three close games this year: one to the Cats and (the last two weeks.
"Have we lost our spark?

"You'd hope not, but reality is we'll keep getting better at it.

"I thought last week when we went into a 'have to win the game' phase, it looked pretty good for us - coming from a big margin down, we hit the front.

 Sunday, July 20 
Fremantle WON BY 1 POINTS
MCG
COLL   
78
FT
79
   FRE

"So that's still there and the desperation and excitement late in the game - you have a look at the contests where the ball is spilling out, I thought we did a lot of the things right, I'd argue defensively we didn't do the same."

"We'd rather learn these lessons now."

Collingwood will host Richmond next Sunday.