The off-season poaching of Magpie assistant coach Gavin Brown was a fairly transparent move to gain an insight into the inner workings of Mick Malthouse's highly successful game plan.
Of course, any successful strategy needs to evolve on a yearly - some would say even a weekly - basis to remain effective, but even so, Ratten says Brown's take on the Pies' march to the 2010 flag has proved enlightening.
"We've had some things in place that we've tried to implement, but it hadn't worked," Ratten says.
"To have Gav come over and talk about his knowledge of the game - not just about Collingwood but about what he would like to set up from a back six point of view - has been first class.
"[Also] Gav, from a team point of view, has been really helpful to the team defence, … which we know Collingwood are really big on.
"Last year they were close to the best defensive team in the competition, so we've taken a bit of Collingwood into [our approach] this year."
It's a decent bet that the first item on Ratten's agenda, having secured Brown's signature, was to get his take on the Pies' ability to push defenders up the ground and lock the ball in their front half.
It's easy to say but a lot harder to do as Alastair Clarkson found out in round one when the Crows sprung his version of the forward press on several occasions, on their way to a come-from-behind win.
But Ratten says Brown offers more than just a peek inside Malthouse's bag of tricks.
"He's a quality individual and what he does with the players and their relationships is build a lot of confidence," he says.
"Jeremy Laidler has just come to our club, but the way he's fitted in [has been great]. He's really helped Nick Duigan as well and Chris Yarran down in the back half also.
"He's really helped him shape his game. We look at Chris' ability to counter attack and use the ball, but defensively, Chris has grown enormously.
"He's doing a great job for us down there."
Ratten isn't too proud to admit that he's had the former Magpie champ drop by his office in the lead-up to the top-of-the-table clash, but adds it's not uncommon for him to gather opposition intelligence from inside his own camp.
"If we get someone from another club, we actually talk about some of the strengths and weaknesses of the team and individuals through their eyes, but they're not always perfect," he says.
"Andy Collins spoke about Richmond before round one and we liked to get his input.
"Gav and Alan Richardson have been at Collingwood and they know the people around [the club] so we sort of asked them what they've seen through their eyes … the sorts of things that can work and maybe how we can get a competitive advantage."
