Collingwood refuses to bite into the narrative that multiple short turnarounds have contributed to their poor slump in form.
Saturday's three-point loss to Adelaide has seen the Pies slide from first on the ladder to fourth, and in contention of missing the finals altogether.
During the past six weeks, Craig McRae's men have faced five teams inside the top eight, but have played Brisbane, Hawthorn and the Crows in a short span of time, which could be the reason for their struggles.
"I don't make excuses," McRae said.
"But we do the maths, three games in 12 days - there's going to be a cost somewhere.
"We have had performances well below par, and we don't want to use excuses. But when we have more time to prepare, we like to think we can get the type of performance we had tonight.
"But that's not always going to be the case. We have got to turn up. We got six days now to get ourselves ready to play Melbourne and control our own narrative."
Collingwood faces Melbourne at the MCG on Friday night: if they win, they'll qualify for finals and could finish as high as second; if they lose, there's a slim chance of missing the September.
McRae was buoyed by the response of his men following the dismal outing against the Hawks last week.
Saturday's effort at the Adelaide Oval showed a shopping list of positive signs, including inside 50s (71-37), clearances (52-38) and tackles (85-63).
But the 2023 premiership coach says there is still plenty to work on.
"We didn't get the four points, but, internally, we know we're headed in the right direction," he said.
"There was a lot more pride in the way we went about it.
"We turned the narrative around internally again.
"We think that stuff will stack up, there's an energy to that, that will stack up."
Key defender Jeremy Howe should return to take on his former side in Round 24, while McRae was non-commital about Bobby Hill's return.
Hill was reportedly eager to face the Crows after a week off with gastro, which backed onto a period of time away from the club to deal with personal issues.
