Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse says there is no secret behind the reason for his side's inconsistency this season as the Pies attempt to all but sew up a third successive finals berth by beating struggling Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.
The Pies have made it a habit this year of winning against the odds - such as when they handed Geelong its only defeat of the season in round nine, while also scoring a memorable win over fellow finals contenders St Kilda last week after being forced to suspend star players Heath Shaw and Alan Didak for the rest of the season following their drunken escapades.
But at the same time, the Pies have also suffered two losses this season to tenth-placed Carlton, while a 48-point round 17 loss to Essendon came just 11 weeks after they thumped the Bombers by 73 points in the Anzac Day blockbuster.
However Malthouse denied his team - which went within a kick of beating eventual premier Geelong in the preliminary final last year - had underachieved this season even though it still needs to win two of its last three matches to guarantee a finals berth.
"The Collingwood side right now, if I remember rightly, two years ago we were going to finish nowhere because we had blooded nine (new) players and all of a sudden we were competitive," he said on Thursday.
"Then we lost (Nathan) Buckley as captain and player, (James) Clement as vice-captain and player and (Paul) Licuria and that is ten Copeland Trophies between them and you are going to struggle (occasionally)."
Malthouse said his side had 13 players aged 21 or younger last week against the Saints when they conceded around 40 years in age to the Saints players collectively.
"You don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to work out we have lost a lot of experience and we are blooding it with kids from last year's side," he said.
"We are always going to be a side that is a little bit patchy because kids give you that inconsistency."
"But it does not frustrate me and when you have got the inconsistencies of youth that is what you put up with."
"It is exciting and fantastic when you are winning but I don't blame the youth for losing because sometimes that consistency (in young players) is a factor."