Disconnected Magpies can regain their rhythm: Howe

But he concedes they may need to get back to basics to do so.

The Magpies sit ninth on percentage after consecutive defeats to Gold Coast and Essendon and have a crunch clash with Geelong at the MCG on Friday night.

Key players such as Darcy Moore and Jordan De Goey are down on form, while Brody Mihocek, Jamie Elliott, Beau McCreery, Mason Cox and Tom Mitchell headline a testing injury list.

Asked if Collingwood could still bring everything together to contend for a second consecutive premiership, Howe said: "Absolutely.

"I feel like we had a really slow start and we got some things right, especially going up into that Easter Thursday against Brisbane and it felt like we kind of kicked our season off from there," he said.

"Potentially we've got to go back to our fundamentals and understand - we know what works, it's just a matter of doing it for long enough."

Collingwood lost their first three matches before steadying their season.

But coach Craig McRae said his charges had looked more disconnected against the Suns and Bombers.

"Well, the disconnect probably comes from just being inconsistent on game day," Howe said.

"When everything's flowing, everyone's kind of in sync and things seem to happen.

"At the moment with these arm-wrestles happening in games, unfortunately we're not holding our momentum for long enough and it probably looks a little bit disconnected out there, and our offence is not really helping our defence and vice versa."

Howe had a scare on Monday, heading for precautionary scans after experiencing hamstring tightness.

"I've been given the all-clear," he said.

"So nothing to worry about, which is nice."

The swingman kicked two goals against Essendon and could spend more time up forward after Mihocek suffered a season-ending pectoral tear.

"It's an option," Howe said.

"I generally have conversations with Fly (McRae) during the week about what's going to happen and where I'm going to play.

"I'm more than happy to play that role for the short term.

"My ideal spot's probably in the backline, and whether or not I go back there this week and we figure something else out (I'm not sure).

"But we don't really sit still with those kinds of things. Fly's pretty happy to throw some magnets around and try some things."

Dan McStay could return via the VFL from his torn ACL this week, while Collingwood have given Darcy Cameron (ribs) the all-clear to face the Cats.

Elliott (vascular) has been cleared to start full contact training, and his availability for Friday night's match will be determined after Wednesday's session.

Oleg Markov (adductor) and Isaac Quaynor (toe) are in doubt to face Geelong, but John Noble is expected to be available after recovering well from concussion.

Australian Associated Press