Collingwood key forward Chris Dawes is grateful he has experienced the AFL's controversial out of bounds rule for the first and last time.

Dawes joined the near-unanimous thumbs down verdict for the NAB Cup experiment after Saturday night's wins over Richmond and Carlton at Etihad Stadium.

The AFL is trialling the new out of bounds interpretation only for round one of this year's pre-season competition.

Under the trial rule, the last player who touches the ball before it goes out of bounds concedes a free kick, unless it happens in a contest.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said he felt sorry for the boundary umpires as they tried to adjudicate the rule, saying it was sometimes like "paper, scissors, rock" to see which way it went.

There were several unusual elements to Saturday night, including the three-team format and the video referral for one of Dawes' four goals.

But it was the out of bounds rule that caused the most angst.

"The main concern for me was that out of bounds rule, which I never quite understood," Dawes said.

"It's too confusing for me, I'm not quick enough to think my way through it."

Dawes also suffered a corked leg muscle on Saturday night in a "friendly fire" collision with rookie team-mate Jack Perham, but it appears to be a minor injury.

"I'm a little sore, I got a little cork from it, but I will have a word to him and tell him to protect me next time, let me take the mark," Dawes joked.

"Maybe he was gunning for my spot, he was trying to take me out."

A notable feature of Saturday night for Collingwood was that assistant coach Nathan Buckley was in charge, a year before he takes over permanently from Mick Malthouse.

Buckley later said, only half-joking, that he felt like he was driving an expensive car while the owner was in the passenger's seat.

"I suppose it was different in terms of his style in meetings and that sort of thing, but as one of Mick's assistants, he's still coaching Mick's style of game," Dawes said of Buckley.

"It's something Mick's done in all the years I've been at the club, in the pre-season, he delegates to his assistants."

One of the highlights of the two games was the encouraging form of experienced recruits Chris Tarrant and Andrew Krakouer.

Tarrant is back at Collingwood after four years at Fremantle, where he switched from a key forward to defence.

But Tarrant had a spell in attack on Saturday night and Dawes said that might keep happening through this season.

"That's one of Taz's main strengths, he's a multi-positional player," Dawes said.

"To have someone who can play at both ends of the ground is going to be a real strength and I definitely think we'll see him up there for a bit this year."

Dawes added the Magpies did not appear to have any major injury worries ahead of their cup quarter-final, with stars such as Dane Swan, Alan Didak and Nick Maxwell sitting out round one.

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