Collingwood are sitting pretty on top of the AFL ladder, with superstar Nick Daicos leading the charge.
But coach Craig McRae insists the 2023 premiers are still nowhere near where they want to be.
The Magpies (8-2) have bounced back from missing finals last year, and an opening loss to GWS, to sit two points clear of the Brisbane Lions.
"There was definitely an energy in the group that I saw in the pre-season that was different to last year," McRae said.
"Now you don't know until you get in the race to see where that fits.
"We got a real big kick the backside round zero, but it was still an underlying belly of work that we'd done that we've had great belief in what we're doing.
"We are nowhere near where we want to be. It's round 10, there's still a long way to go.
"We're still improving. We've got parts of our game that we want to put on show this week that we think we can improve in.
"We're in the halfway stage, almost, of a long journey."
Collingwood's players are prepared to make "sacrifices" to their own games to allow Daicos to break free of tags and flourish.
"He's such a such a diligent young man who wants to be the best player he can possibly be for him and for the team," McRae said.
"And he works harder in this game than most, and now I think we're working towards even more protection of Nick in terms of other things, little things within our game, assisting hopefully that."
McRae has addressed protecting Daicos with his fellow midfielders.
"It's about taking people on the journey with that," he said.
"Like, if you're gonna say, 'oh, we're going to look after Nick in certain phases', that means someone else is gonna sacrifice their game.
"We've got a lot of people prepared to do roles, that other people don't see in the moment, and that's ultimately why we defend the ground really well right now, or we attack the game in certain phases.
"But we make sure we highlight those sacrifices that others do for each other."
Veteran Steele Sidebottom (back) will be rested against North Melbourne on Saturday but recruit Dan Houston (calf) should be fit.
"He will play, as long as he doesn't pull up sore tomorrow," McRae said.
"Credit to him, he has done a great job to get up this week."
Skipper Darcy Moore will miss again but should be fit for next week.
"At this stage we'll rule him out," McRae said. "He is another one that put himself right in the frame to play, but unfortunately there is a bit of lingering stuff there with his AC joint and he is not quite right to play."
