Darcy Moore is unapologetic about the poor aesthetics, saying Collingwood will learn plenty from their ugly AFL win over Carlton.

After their narrow loss to Fremantle in the Gather Round rain, the Magpies roared back in the last quarter on Thursday night to deny the Blues by five points.

Collingwood improved to 3-3 and will start favourites against resurgent Essendon in the Anzac Day blockbuster, with Moore set to return from a hamstring injury.

"Sometimes you have to win pretty and sometimes you've got to win gritty, and it was a pretty gritty win for us," Moore said.

"We certainly didn't play our best football."

Moore was speaking on Monday morning at the Shrine of Remembrance, before the Magpies' main post-game review.

"In my experience, there's a lot to take out of games like that when things aren't quite firing and flowing the way you'd like, to be able to grind through, stick with it and then find a way is really valuable for a team," he said

"You can get really good nourishment from a game like that, even if things aren't flowing.

"The main one for me, watching, was particularly the start of the last quarter - a big momentum shift and the part of the game when we looked like we were able to score freely and play our best footy."

While Nick Daicos put Carlton to the sword in the last quarter, Moore said younger teammates such as Will Hayes and Angus Anderson had also been critical.

"What a huge confidence boost if is for them," he said.

But Moore added Essendon's improvement over the past few weeks had been noted at Collingwood.

"Their footy really speaks for itself, the last couple of weeks," he said.

"We saw on the weekend ... their pressure was excellent, and when a young team brings great pressure, it's going to challenge anyone.

"So we'll be ready for that. We're certainly not underestimating them."