Click here to watch Mick Malthouse's round 21 post-match press conference on CTV Click here to watch the boys sing the song after the game in CTV's Winners' CircleMick Malthouse voiced his delight at the efforts of his players after they ensured a finals berth with a tough 25-point victory over Sydney on Saturday night.
The win moves the Magpies to 52 premiership points and with an outside chance of claiming a top-four spot, with a Friday night encounter with Adelaide at Telstra Dome the final home-and-away challenge.
“They (Sydney) are a final eight side and a premiership side, a side that is very disciplined and plays good football,” Malthouse told the media after the game.
“We beat them twice this year and I reckon it’s our best game in the last month, so it’s been good.”
Malthouse also acknowledged the efforts of returning skipper Nathan Buckley, who had 14 possessions in his first game in the black and white since September last year, and looked dangerous and moved well in setting up many forward thrusts.
“I think he’d be the first to say that he was pretty rusty, but it was good to have him out there.
“I didn’t see anything there that I didn’t expect from a bloke that hasn’t played for 20 weeks, so it was a wonderful performance to come back into the side and contribute in the game time he had. It was quite good.”
The veteran coach was quick to dispel the notion that the champion leader’s mere presence was enough to lift the young Collingwood side to victory.
“Players play football, they don’t particularly care who’s out there. You guys do, the crowd does, it’s fantastic, but we’ve got to be better than just one player and having one player out there.
“We’ve gone beyond worrying about who plays and who doesn’t play. It’s good to have him out there, it’s good to have Leon Davis out there, it’s good to have Tyson Goldsack, who was our top ball-getting player for the day.
“We didn’t win because Nathan played. We won because we were very good in set structures and Nathan contributed to that.”
With a six-day turnaround until the clash with the Crows, Malthouse mooted the possibility of giving players, including Buckley, a rest, provided the team’s ladder position will be set in stone prior to the start of round 22.
“I’ll say this, if we can’t move up nor down, there are several players who’ll be looked at to see whether we need to rest them, give them a chance to have a break, like a Goldsack who’s come back like he has, and I thought he was terrific today.
“We’ve done it with Thomas last year, Buckley last year. We’ve done that with Martin Clarke, he’s also come back and played pretty well.
“It’s a six-day break, so this is where we’ll determine whether we play him (Buckley), but we’ve assured ourselves of playing a finals series.
“We don’t know where we’re going to be, or who we play, so we’ve got a few things to weigh up this week, but we’ll see what the rest of the round serves up and we’ll make some decision between now and next Thursday.
“This form’s been better than last week, and the week before and the week before, so we don’t want to flaunt with it, but by the same token, I think footballers these days adjust to six-day breaks, or we give them a breather and they play in a finals match.
“Nathan’s certainly going to be one of those players we look at. Now if he looks like he’s coming up okay, he will play, because he needs to play, but if he looks a bit tired, or tight, he won’t play”
