Hird took an optimistic view of his first loss as an AFL coach and said he was pleased with the lessons learned across the pre-season competition.
""We can take a lot of positives out of our whole pre-season,"" he said.
""We've played some good teams and we've played good patches of football.
""We're not walking away from here to blow up what we've done over pre-season but what it does is give us is a good reality check of where we're at and what we need to work on over the next couple of weeks before we go into the Western Bulldogs [in round one].""
Hird said the way his players stood up to the more experienced Magpies, who gave them a ""master class"" with Mick Malthouse at the helm, was indicative of how much they had improved in a short space of time.
""We've very disappointed we lost the game. It would have been nice for all our supporters to win,"" he said.
""But I think our whole pre-season has shown improvement from when we started back in late October and today we were up against a very, very good football team who are hard to beat, are tough and they put pressure on you, and our boys did OK.
""From an improvement point of view, we've shown some over the pre-season and we can go into round one knowing we've had a good pre-season.""
The Bombers cut a 34-point deficit to just three in the third quarter, and came again in the final term after the Pies had pushed away.
Hird said he was proud of his players for absorbing the Pies' pressure in the first half and how they kept stocks in reserve to mount the comeback.
""Our boys have really enjoyed playing football and they've really enjoyed the pre-season,"" he said.
""They didn't want to leave their pre-season at three-quarter time and go into the season getting blown away.
""That's the terrific thing about the group we've got; they understand now how hard they need to work and they're proud of the efforts they put in.""
Kyle Hardingham sustained a minor groin spasm in the match but is expected to be OK, while Hird said Scott Gumbleton, who hasn't played this year but will play in VFL practice matches over the next two weeks, would also be available for round one.
He also admitted he was looking forward to the start of the season proper.
""I'm glad that's over and we're ready to start the real season.""
