After a positive few weeks on the field, Collingwood forward Chris Dawes says the reason for his step up in form is the fact he never stopped believing.

The 24-year-old has played in a new role this year where he pinch-hits in the ruck behind No. 1 big man Darren Jolly, which has seen him spend about 80 per cent of his game in attack.

When he has been up forward, he's been less prolific than last year, kicking 14 goals from 18 games.

In 2011, he had 21 goals to his name by this stage - and he'd missed five games with a hand injury - before he ended with 27 for the season.

After taking eight marks in the Pies' eight-point win over the Sydney Swans and kicking seven goals over the past five games, Dawes said he had never lost confidence in his ability despite the drop off in scoreboard return from last season.

"[Hitting the scoreboard] is probably part of it. That's one thing I haven't been able to do as consistently as what I have in previous years," Dawes told SEN on Tuesday.

"But I suppose the reason why my form is starting to turn is because I haven't lost confidence.

"I do look at things like GPS [readings], contests I've gotten to in terms of numbers of contests, and so I say I'm doing the work, I'm not far off good games, I just need a bit more polish with the smaller things and it won't be long before I'm stringing together good games."

In early July, Dawes said he felt lucky to have kept his spot in the team to date after putting in multiple "below average performances".

But as the season enters the business end, he says he feels like things turned slightly for him against the Swans as he started holding more marks.

He also said he knew he had been lacking in his forward contribution and he had to do more than simply fulfil the dual big man role.

"I don't think my form's been that bad. I just haven't been having too many good games but I didn't think I was really out of form," he said.

"I've been confident especially in the past month or so and it started to string together a bit better on Saturday night, which is why I was able to have a bit more of an impact.

"I still play 80 per cent of my game as a forward and that part of my game I thought was lacking and I wasn't playing as well as what I'm capable of.

"It's one thing to play a role and I've been doing that OK but that's sort of a baseline and for me to have a good games I've got to do more than just play my role, which I haven't really been doing enough this year."

Jennifer Witham is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs.