Coach Craig McRae will check the tape on Collingwood's centre ball-up positioning after Adelaide enjoyed a game-winning run out of the middle while Magpies star Nick Daicos lined up on the wing.

The premiership mentor concedes the Magpies' key forwards are also struggling as Collingwood take a 1-1 record into the bye.

Daicos was electric in the first half of Saturday night's 14-point defeat and racked up 15 disposals, six inside-50s, 387 metres gained and kicked 1.2 in the second quarter alone.

But at the start of the third term, Daicos lined up on the wing - and Adelaide's midfield took over as the Crows kicked the first three goals of the defining quarter.

"That's just subtle little shifts - they do little deals and stuff, just for certain times of the game," McRae said.

"If you watch every centre bounce, there's lots of deals going on - players starting forward that end up midfielders. We don't want to give too much away, but most opposition do it.

"It was just that one moment. It wasn't a tactical thing. I wouldn't read too much into it."

When pressed on Collingwood shipping three goals while Daicos was on the wing, McRae said: "OK I need to look at the tape and make sure that we get on top of things.

"To be honest, our centre bounce stuff. We've put a lot of time into it. We've got more work to do. That's real.

"We've got 12 days now to get these things right."

Daicos finished with 33 disposals and two goals to still be among the better players on the ground.

Collingwood leaned on the midfield dynamo and smalls Jamie Elliott, Lachie Schultz and Roan Steele to kick goals in an absence of quality from their key forwards, following the off-season departures of Brody Mihocek and Mason Cox.

Dan McStay, Tim Membrey and Jack Buller kicked just one goal between them against Adelaide.

The trio also had little impact in Collingwood's opening round win over St Kilda.

"That's reality - we're not getting much out of our keys. That's real. I'm not gonna shy away from that. We've got work to do on that," McRae said.

"Yeah, I think there's a connection breakdown at times."

McRae was adamant there was still plenty of "blue sky" to take from the defeat, highlighting former Port star Dan Houston's standout performance.

He remains optimistic skipper Darcy Moore (hamstring) and veteran backman Jeremy Howe (calf) will return to bolster Collingwood's undersized defence for their clash with GWS after the bye.

"Darcy, hopefully will be available, not sure, he's had some minor hamstring awareness," he said.

"And Howey's sort of working towards that too.

"So time will tell on their progression."