COLLINGWOOD'S crushing win over Richmond in last year's preliminary final is "largely irrelevant" to their blockbuster round-two clash at the MCG on Thursday night, Magpie coach Nathan Buckley says.

In what many Collingwood fans hailed as the greatest victory they have seen, the Magpies turned the 2018 premiership race on its head with a 39-point belting of the Tigers before going down to West Coast by just five points in an epic Grand Final.

After a seven-point loss to an inexperienced Geelong on Friday, a contest in which the Pies were uncharacteristically sloppy, they now face Richmond on a six-day break.

"That's last year," Buckley said on Tuesday when asked about the potential influence of the preliminary final result.

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"We were asked about the Grand Final all off-season, and you get to round one and you think you get the chance to jump back into 2019, and we'll get the questions about the prelim now, (and) we'll get the questions about the Grand Final next week (before hosting West Coast), but they're largely irrelevant.

"Those games have been run and won, and we're well and truly into season 2019 now.

"We said at this time last year that we'll let our footy do the talking and we need to do that.

None of the words that you hear from me here are really going to mean anything – all that matters is what we do on game day. We believe we're in decent nick, but we've got to display that.

Pressed on the issue, the Pies coach added: "We respect Richmond. We were rapt to execute our plans (in the preliminary final), just as they would have been in the two games they beat us in the home and away last year … too many words. We just want to get to Thursday."

The absence of Richmond's star defender Alex Rance, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in round one, has the potential to have a significant influence.

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"It changes a lot because he's one of the best defenders in the competition and one of the best players in the competition. It probably makes Richmond a little less predictable. They've been one of the more predictable sides over the last couple of years – it's just that they're so good at it," Buckley said.

"It provides a point of difference compared to other times we've played them. I've got no doubt it would galvanise the Tigers boys as well. We were in similar situations last year.

"We definitely won't be taking the Tigers any lighter.

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"You might think that aerially they might be more gettable in the front half, but that's speculation. (David) Astbury, (Nick) Vlastuin (and Dylan) Grimes are very strong aerial players, and Richmond's greatest form of defence has been stopping it from even getting to that part of the field."

Another point of difference highlighted by Buckley is Richmond's height in attack, with the options including Jack Riewoldt, big-name recruit Tom Lynch and resting ruckmen Noah Balta and Toby Nankervis, with a bevy of pacy smalls at their feet.

"We've got a challenge there, but we believe that we've got the mix to cater for any forward set up," said Buckley, who has at his disposal new key defensive combination Darcy Moore and Jordan Roughead, along with pinch-hitters Jeremy Howe and Tom Langdon.

Pies ruckman Brodie Grundy, an All Australian last year, performed below his usual high standard against the Cats but his coach was confident that "it was just one game of footy and he'll respond".

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Buckley said the Pies selection committee would consider promoting Levi Greenwood and handing him a tagging role on Tigers superstar Dustin Martin.

Others in the mix included midfielders Brayden Sier, Rupert Wills and defender Flynn Appleby.

Buckley also said veteran defender Lynden Dunn would make his return from a knee reconstruction in a VFL practice match against Richmond at Punt Road on Thursday.

"Nine months of recovery and rehab and he's pushed very hard through pre-season to get himself up as early as he can," Buckley said.

"He'll get over a half of VFL time this week and be looking to push his (senior) claims in the next month or so."

During the Pies' training session on Tuesday, forward Will Hoskin-Elliott (knee) increased his workload and ran at full pace away from the main group.

Promising youngster Nathan Murphy (calf) also ran well.