Magpies settled but coach keeping mum

Collingwood's goal attack conundrum appeared to have been settled during the Magpies' last-gasp 55-54 round six Super Netball win over the NSW Swifts, but coach Kristy Keppich-Birrell remains unwilling to give away any club secrets.

With the scores locked at 27-27 heading into the third quarter on Sunday, and Collingwood's star goal shooter Caitlin Thwaites double-marked, 22-year-old Cody Lange produced a nine-from-nine scoring performance to give the Magpies a 16-12 advantage for the period and a critical 43-39 lead.

The goal attack spot has been unsettled for the Magpies, but with Lange continuing her encouraging return from an anterior cruciate ligament tear, the 183-centimetre South Australian native laid a credible claim.

"She did an absolutely amazing job," Thwaites said.

"Cody really stepped up this week, which was awesome. Coming back from a knee, she wasn't quite right for the first couple of rounds. I think her coming back in and just catching up to the pace of this level again, it's been a great growth. It's a hard road, coming off an ACL injury and being thrown out there."

Keppich-Birrell interchanged Lange and ex-West Coast player Shae Brown at goal attack, allowing Lange to get a feel for what was required.

"For her to have a little bit of a break during the game to come off and see what was happening and what needed to happen next, it put the fire in her belly and she just came out and smashed it," Keppich-Birrell said.

"She's obviously still coming back from a knee reconstruction. So there is space in her aerobic capacity that she's still working on. We're doing the work off the court to get her up to that and that's a continual process.

"At the moment we have three or possibly four goal attack options. But, the less the other teams know about what we're doing, the better."

The win over the Swifts was much-needed for Collingwood, who had yet to fire this season despite a star-studded roster.

"It was super important for the players to believe that they can do it under that amount of pressure," Keppich-Birrell said.

"Every team that we play seems to come up and play their grand final. I think it's the love-hate with Collingwood. We take it on board, we love the physicality of it. I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that don't want us to do well and I think today the girls showed them that they believe in themselves."