MICK Malthouse says Carlton "embarrassed" themselves in Friday night's 75-point shellacking from Collingwood, with the record-setting coach labelling the performance the most disappointing of his tenure at the Blues.
On a night when Malthouse coached his 715th match, surpassing Collingwood legend Jock McHale's VFL/AFL record, the Blues were completely outworked by the Pies and slumped to a 1-4 start to the season.
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"I thought our work ethic was very, very poor," Malthouse said post-match.
"As our players will hopefully consistently say we embarrassed ourselves. So it doesn't leave a lot of positives at all to even think about, quite frankly."
Click here to watch Mick Malthouse's full post-match press conference
After a huge build-up to the milestone match, the Blues looked flat for almost the entire contest after their first win of the season over St Kilda in Wellington on Anzac Day.
In a damning statistic, Carlton convincingly lost the tackle count 81-47, despite also conceding 78 more possessions.
"You can say we were outclassed, but class has nothing to do with attitude," Malthouse said.
"We were outworked and that's disappointing, because you don't have to be outworked and you don't need class to be outworked.
"I don't care what list I've got in terms of talent, because that's going to fluctuate through your career. What I do care about is the effort for Carlton supporters.
"Unfortunately, I've got to say that that's as disappointing a game as I've been attached to here at Carlton."
Malthouse could only point out Chris Judd's third quarter, when the champion gathered nine disposals in a bid to lift the Blues, and Sam Rowe's defensive effort on Travis Cloke (2.3) as the only highlights on a bleak night.
With the Blues set for a clash with bottom-placed side the Brisbane Lions in round six, they could be sweating on the fitness of key forward Lachie Henderson and backman Michael Jamison.
Henderson was subbed out of the match with a tight hamstring in the third term, finishing without a possession on a dirty night.
Jamison was a late withdrawal due to a tight calf, but the Blues now have a nine-day break until they face the Lions next Sunday, and Malthouse signalled a tough review for his players.
"We've got to make sure that we don't embarrass each other ever again in front of our Carlton supporters," Malthouse said.
"These things are totally unacceptable. We cannot accept playing like that and think that we can just erase it from our mind and move on to next week.
"The simple fact is we did not show a yelp."
Malthouse's evening got off to a better start when the Pies' 2010 premiership coach broke bread with Collingwood president Eddie McGuire at a pre-match function, and led the Blues onto the field alongside his family.
"It's one of my greatest joys is to involve my family at my job," he said.
