Port Adelaide have gone up another level in the estimations of Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley with their upset AFL win over Sydney.

The Power will fancy their chances of claiming another big scalp and solidifying their top-eight claims when they host the Magpies in Saturday’s twilight match.

Port are eighth, one spot below Collingwood and with a better percentage.

“We have no excuses – Port Adelaide have obviously had a great performance on the weekend,” Buckley said.

“We’ve spent a fair bit of time having a look at them and we we need to play four quarters ourselves, so it’s a good challenge for us.

“They’ve just beaten the side that Ross Lyon, myself, Al Clarkson at times have said … are the side to beat, the side we’re all chasing.”

Port effectively “out-Sydneyed” the reigning premiers last weekend, wearing them down with relentless tackling and pressure.

“We’ll give them due respect, but at the same time we have great belief in what we do and understand that there are plenty of things we need to achieve that are in our control, that we’ll be looking after first,” Buckley said.

Collingwood are coming off the bye and Buckley said the break had given his team a good chance to regroup for the push to the finals.

“The bye comes at a good time and I think the two-bye idea is not too bad,” he said.

“We believe we were trending up in areas of importance for us, namely defensively, and we want to continue that.”

Collingwood’s long injury list could soon start to abate, with Luke Ball to return from a calf injury.

Key forward Travis Cloke will play after having finger surgery during the week off.

Last year’s best-and-fairest winner Dayne Beams, yet to play this season because of a leg injury, is also nearing a VFL return.

“He’s had a breakthrough in the last couple of weeks,” Buckley said.

“Really, we thought it was a four-week injury at the beginning (and) it was slower to get going, so it probably turned from a four to a six.

“Then he had a setback … but in the last month he’s been able to go in leaps and bounds.

“If he gets through the next week of training he should play in the VFL the following week.”