An injection of key personnel and finetuning has veteran Steele Sidebottom confident Collingwood is a “better team” than when it met Brisbane in round 21.

The Magpies lost five of six games on the run home, including a 27-point loss to Brisbane at the MCG.

But after sneaking into the top four and then comprehensively defeating Adelaide in the qualifying final, Collingwood seems to have shrugged off its late-season wobble.

The Magpies were missing Jeremy Howe and Billy Frampton that night against the Lions, while Bobby Hill and Jordan De Goey traded the substitute’s vest.

Sidebottom says the Magpies have slowly but surely become a stronger team since.

“I think our form late in the season probably wasn’t (where we wanted), we weren’t getting the results we wanted anyway,” Sidebottom sai

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