Nathan Buckley feels numb.

Beyond that, the Collingwood coach can’t adequately describe his emotions.

“I can’t even be really clear on how it feels right now, other than not great,” Buckley said after a five-point AFL grand final loss to West Coast.

“I’m pretty numb and the boys are pretty numb.”

The Magpies were beaten by the game’s last goal, kicked in the last two minutes. And they led for all but nine minutes of Saturday’s finale.

Buckley said his players, after kicking the initial five goals of the match to street to a 28-point lead, lost their “dare”.

“We lost our aggression to shift the ball,” he said.

“When that stopped, we started kicking long down the line … we did lose our dare.”

Collingwood opened a frantic final term with two goals in 90 seconds to hold a 12-point advantage. But then, Buckley lamented his side’s sloppy skills.

“We weren’t quite as clean inside as we have been. We missed opportunities,” he said.

“We got two goals up in that last quarter and we had two or three opportunities to get the next ball out of the centre bounce and we just weren’t clean and it went back the other way and West Coast got a goal pretty quick.

“Those little moments will haunt the players and haunt us.”

Yet Buckley expressed great pride in his club and players.

“We have had a fantastic year,” he said.

“I have a great deal of pride for our organisation and the way we carry ourselves and the way we conduct our business … I have never felt as proud of the club as I do right now.

“We have to face this reality, and how we respond to this reality.

“But it won’t be for lack of support, it won’t be for lack of love or care for each other.

“That needs to be something that is continually digged into and never taken for granted – it’s finite unless you keep producing it, so that is going to be a big challenge for us.”