MICK Malthouse believes there wasn't a single player in a black and white jumper who didn't give his all in Wednesday's stirring 16-point win over Essendon at the MCG.

The Collingwood coach, who has been vocal in his support of Anzac Day and all it represents in the past week, was rapt with the work ethic his players brought to the annual blockbuster clash between the two clubs.

"There wasn't a player we didn't worry about their effort. All the efforts were fantastic," he said, after the win.

"Mistakes were made, yes, but there were no worries about effort."

Malthouse said the endeavour of his players was excellent throughout the day, and praised the way they were able to stick to the initial game plan the coaching staff laid out before the 2.40pm bounce.

"We had strategies in place that sometimes go out the window pretty quickly in games of football because the game changes and fluctuates so much," he said.

"We spoke about the fact that errors will be made under pressure. We made a fair few as you can see by the scoreboard.

"The underlying thing was that we'll wake up tomorrow morning and we can give a good account of ourselves by the performance on the ground, that you didn't let your teammates down, that you stuck to the strategies or game plan, and you can be satisfied with whatever the result is.

"That's pretty much what took place, fortunately. It's a great day to be involved in, and when you win a game like this, under that pressure, and Essendon really were running hot and are a high-scoring side.

"They have a high percentage of scores when they go inside 50, so it's a credit to our boys. I though they were terrific."

Malthouse said his players didn't receive any pain-killing injections to help them get over Saturday's bone-crunching loss to Port Adelaide, and commented on the work of the fitness staff from both clubs.

He did also say too much was made of the effects of the four-day break each side was forced to endure, and wouldn't exchange a longer layoff for the chance to play on Anzac Day.

"The injuries that were there were too broad. You can't necessary inject whole legs or whole arms or whole shoulders.

"I think both sides' fitness teams did wonders for both sides, but let's not get too carried away with that.

"Collingwood didn't, and Essendon didn't, but I think we played it up too much. It is a four-day break, and it is demanding, but footballers are paid reasonable money to adhere to programs to enable them to play football when the league schedules it.

"We knew back in December when the game was going to be, and you would never have heard one whimper from any of the Essendon or Collingwood people, because that's the game that you want to play in. You've got to be part of it."

Malthouse said the players won't complete a full training session before Monday, although they do have AFL clinic commitments this Friday.

The Magpies will now meet Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night in nine days' time.