Collingwood have rebounded from a tough week, belting Hawthorn by 64 points in their Saturday night AFL match at the MCG.

The Hawks' injury problems worsened, with captain Sam Mitchell forced off the ground for much of the second half as the Magpies won 17.21 (123) to 8.11 (59).

Defender Heath Shaw made a great return from injury, while Dale Thomas and Leon Davis kicked three goals apiece for the Magpies.

Play was held up for several minutes in the final term after Hawk Xavier Ellis' head accidentally collided with Travis Cloke's knee.

But the incident was not as bad as it initially looked, with Ellis able to walk to the interchange bench near the end of the game.

Mitchell could be more of a problem, coming off the ground in the third term and having plenty of work done on his hamstrings before he was forced to sit out the rest of the game on the bench.

The Hawks have suffered shocking luck with injuries at the start of this season.

But whatever their personnel problems, they were flat on Saturday night after hard-fought losses to Geelong and the Western Bulldogs.

While it was a dominating performance from Collingwood, breaking a four-game losing streak against the Hawks, they should have won by more.

After kicking 0.9 in the second half of last week's loss to St Kilda, they kicked 2.11 in the third term against the Hawks.

The Magpies killed off the game in the first half, kicking five goals to one in the second term for a decisive 46-point lead at the main break.

Collingwood's inability to take their chances against St Kilda was only the start of a bad few days for the club.

It emerged over the weekend that coach Mick Malthouse had abused St Kilda forward Stephen Milne during a quarter-time confrontation.

Malthouse and Milne apologised to each other and the AFL fined them for the verbal exchange, while the Magpies coach compounded the controversy by lying about it immediately after the match.

Collingwood were always going to come out hard against the Hawks, who were missing star forward Lance Franklin through suspension and key defender Josh Gibson because of a hamstring injury.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson would only say post-match that Mitchell had suffered a knock and his second-half absence was a precaution.

"Sam was just a little bit sore, he copped a pretty heavy knock, we were just a little bit mindful ... he's a pretty important player to us and the game was shot," Clarkson said.

"So there's no point risking your important players in a game where you knew you were going to lose, so we rested him for the last quarter."

Malthouse was asked what effect the tough week had on him and he replied simply: "roll with the punches".

But the Magpies set the agenda on the field against Hawthorn.

The Magpies executed their zone defence superbly against Hawthorn in the first half and also blitzed them with tackling - 47 to 22 at halftime and 76-45 for the match.

"Was it our best for the year? close - (it was) very good," Malthouse said.

"Every club would want reasonable pressure and reasonable tackling skills, it's not something we're unique with or we're the only ones who thought of it.

"We did it reasonably well (tonight)."

Malthouse also admitted that their scoring inaccuracy is a concern.

"We're missing too many, there's no question about that - no-one means to miss, so we'll keep practising," he said.

Clarkson had a measured response to the disappointing night, noting that the Hawks had come off two tough matches against the Cats and Bulldogs.

He pointed out Geelong and the 'Dogs had also lost the week after beating Hawthorn.

"We've got to stay pretty philosophical, we've had a pretty tough program and the first three weeks of the season, we couldn't question the endeavour or commitment of our players whatsoever," he said.

"Tonight was an un-Hawthorn like performance, we're disappointed with the way that we played, but the 'Pies probably got us at a pretty good time.

"It's not an excuse, but I thought we were just a little bit off our best game tonight - or a fair way off our best game - and the 'Pies capitalised on that.

"They're a good side and they made us look very ordinary, especially in the first half, but we have a lot of faith in our side and we just need to stabilise our side a little bit.

Franklin and Liam Shiels will return from suspension next week, while Shaun Burgoyne and Brad Sewell are on the verge of coming back from injury.

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