Collingwood's premiership defence is on more than shaky grounds as multiple areas are becoming an issue for Craig McRae.
The Pies suffered their third consecutive loss at the hands of Geelong and lament in 10th position on the ladder, which could drop to 12th by Monday.
McRae's men were slow out of the gates, leaking the opening three goals in four minutes of playing time, which was ironically the final margin.
The Cats deployed an uncontested game style, resulting in 145 marks to 75, whilst also dominating territory (62-41 inside 50s) as well as clearances (42-35;16-6 centre bounce) despite losing the hit-outs 64-22.
"Something we'll review hard," McRae said post-game.
"When you (concede) three goals in four minutes and the margin was pretty much that at the end.
"But a bit reflective of what we spoke about... losing a lot of territory, centre bounces were a big cost and centre bounce scores.
"This is the game isn't it? You've got to be good at everything but not really bad at phases of the game.
"We'll take many positives away, but also the reality is there is six games to go, time is running out."
Queries have circulated over the Collingwood aura and whether or not it still exists, losing encounters to Gold Coast (11 points) and Essendon (12) in tight fashion, an act McRae has usually pulled off.
"I do feel like there's a little bit of a dark cloud at times over us," McRae said after the loss to the Cats.
"I said that to the players this week, but we can't live in that space ... we're not here to make excuses. I think for most major parts of tonight, we looked like ourselves.
"I just want to (be) rid of excuses, like, I just don't want to live in that space. We fight to the last second, we kick the last goal of the game, this is who we are."
The Pie pain didn't end there with returning small forward Lachie Schultz ruled out for at least Round 19 after failing a head assessment injury (HIA) after copping a knock early in the final term.
Magpies gun Nick Daicos grabbed at his left hamstring after an accidental knee from Tom Atkins but played on.
Collingwood will look to keep their premiership defence alive when they face Hawthorn next week at the MCG.