If a record losing margin to St Kilda was not bad enough, Collingwood's miserable Monday night was exacerbated by a raft of injuries to key players.

Already without late withdrawals Paul Medhurst and Leon Davis, the Magpies were dealt another blow with injuries to Josh Fraser, Travis Cloke and Dane Swan.

The trio all finished the game on the bench after being hurt in the final quarter of the club's 88-point loss to the Saints.

The margin eclipsed the club's previous mark against St Kilda of 73 in 2005, and Collingwood's score of 40 was its lowest since 1997 when Tony Shaw was at the helm.

Cloke strained his hamstring, Fraser injured a posterior cruciate ligament - a similar injury to the one he suffered playing for Victoria last year - and Dane Swan twisted his knee.

The seriousness of their injuries, and how much football they will miss, are still unknown but all three must be in doubt to face Carlton at the MCG on Sunday.

Medhurst failed to play after injuring his ankle in Round 6 against North Melbourne, while Davis missed due to an adductor injury.

Star player Alan Didak was another unavailable due to a hamstring injury.

"I think they're all the one type of player. Ground level players who are very creative and it's very hard to replace those players," said Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse.

But Malthouse refused to blame the injuries for the defeat.

He said his youngsters were 'overwhelmed' by the occasion.

"I think they were overcome by the intensity of the game," he said. "St Kilda's intensity has been outstanding this year. They kept it up."

"When we were confronted with that we didn't really handle the situation as well."

But Malthouse said teenager Steele Sidebottom, who bagged 10 goals in the TAC Cup Grand Final last year, showed considerable promise after amassing 22 possessions on debut.

"Is he ready? I'm not 100 percent sure but he's going to be something for the future for us," he said.

Malthouse said his side was competitive in the first quarter but it was all downhill thereon.

"Things that went wrong? Practically all things went wrong from quarter time onwards," he said.

"Things just didn't improve. We didn't have enough numbers at the end of the day to put people on the ground."