Collingwood captain Scott Burns admits 10-minute lapses have been costly this season, to the point where the Magpies must beat Sydney on Saturday night to keep alive their aim of earning the double chance.

Having let slip four games this campaign that they had in their keeping, the seventh-placed `Pies have the chance to close the 10-point gap between them and the fourth-placed Swans at ANZ Stadium.

But Burns acknowledged another defeat would draw the curtains on Collingwood's aspirations of finishing in the top four.

"Knowing that we're probably challenging Sydney and Sydney knock us off it will make it pretty hard to catch up," he said before Collingwood flew out of Melbourne.

"But if we can get the points then that fourth spot might be open for three or four other teams."

Other than a four-week winning run from rounds eight to 11, Collingwood's form has been hard to read this season, especially after they pushed the rampant Western Bulldogs all the way despite severe injury problems last start.

But Burns said Collingwood were confident they could produce their best football over the next two months.

"We've been a bit inconsistent, but I don't think we're far off it at all," he said.

"We really want to have a good run in the last nine weeks, so I guess another four or five weeks will give us more of an indication of where we really are at ... whether we can challenge the top teams or not."

Asked what gave him that confidence, Burns said: "The way we've played a lot of our footy this year.

"We've probably let ourselves down in about 10 minutes of football in quite a few games and I would think that in three-and-a-half quarters against every team we've played against, we've handled ourselves pretty well."

One area Collingwood can draw confidence in is their recent record against Sydney, having won the past four clashes and three of the five played at the Olympic Stadium since 2003.

Those games all featured Adam Goodes, although Burns said the Swans were the sort of team that could cover the suspended star, who was Sydney's best player in all three defeats to Collingwood last year.

"They're such an even team that if any side can lose their No.1 onballer and cover them very well then it's Sydney," he said.

"We know it's going to be pretty tough with him or without him."

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