North Melbourne coach Brad Scott believes Collingwood have created a gulf between themselves and the rest of the AFL.

The reigning premiers thrashed the Kangaroos 21.17 (143) to 7.14 (56) at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Scott had openly stated his aim to show his young side was making up ground on the AFL elite after big losses in all six games against top-four opposition last season.

Instead, they were completely outclassed, with gun midfielders Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury, who amassed 79 touches between them, blitzing the emerging 'Roos midfield.

Travis Cloke booted five goals for the Magpies, who had 11 goal-kickers and dominated all aspects of the game.

Scott was bitterly disappointed the Kangaroos had not narrowed the gap at all on the AFL's best side.

But he said the early evidence was that even those clubs who came closest to Collingwood last season were now lagging well behind.

"The gulf I speak of between where we are and where they are I think is competition-wide," Scott said.

"The footy I've watched, and I know it's only round two, but they've established a gap between everyone at the moment.

"They're a cut above.

"I thought we played a lot better this week than we did last week (against West Coast) and there's an 83-point difference in the result.

"They are clearly the best team in the competition at the moment, their pressure's outstanding and we couldn't stand up to that pressure.

"I was hoping Collingwood's pressure would be that good, because I wanted to get a measure of where we're at, and unfortunately it's a pretty ordinary measure."

Scott said rather than plan tactics around damage limitation, he had asked his young players to take on the Magpies' champions head-to-head and see how they stacked up.

The result was not pretty.

Along with Swan and Pendlebury's domination, less-experienced Magpies such as Dayne Beams, who racked up three goals and 26 touches, and Steele Sidebottom (two goals, 27 disposals) also outclassed them.

Collingwood's skilful ball use was exemplary, as was their defensive pressure, making it a nightmare for North to try to move the ball out of defence.

Magpies coach Mick Malthouse said Saturday's big win was a notch above their 75-point victory over Port Adelaide in the opening round.

But he still expected plenty of improvement.

"The competition will improve and we've got to improve along with it," Malthouse said.

Helping that cause will be some fierce selection pressure.

Captain Nick Maxwell is set to play his first game of the season against Carlton next round after recovering from kidney damage sustained in a pre-season semi-final.

Brad Dick, Leon Davis and ruckman Cameron Wood are among others Malthouse said were pushing hard for a place.

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