COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse believes his side's tenacious 19-point win over St Kilda was played in a finals-like atmosphere that will provide invaluable experience for many of the side's younger players.
The Magpies led at every change but they were challenged by St Kilda at every turn. The Saints, coming off six straight wins, had one more scoring shot than Collingwood for the night to go with six extra inside 50s.
"It was a defensive game right across the board. When you have 39 shots on goal and 132 entries between [the two sides]. That is less than 50 per cent conversion. It was finals like pressure. That was terrific really," Malthouse said.
"It's the sort of football St Kilda play and we can play fairly good defensive football ourselves. I would say both sides played more to their defensive capabilities rather than their offensive capabilities.
"For some young players, and I will throw in Andrew Krakouer because he has been out of the system for so long, those games on that ground, against that opposition, are invaluable, really."
The Collingwood backline starred in the victory. Leon Davis had a career best 36 possessions as adding two goals to his tally when pushing forward, Harry O'Brien kept the dangerous Stephen Milne to just one goal for the night while Ben Reid and Chris Tarrant kept the Saints' spearheads Nick Riewoldt and Justin Koschitzke under wraps.
Mathouse was delighted with the performance of Davis, who has reinvented himself as a defender this year and is in All Australian form.
"He has built his confidence up and he is a dangerous player at both ends. It is a fantastic story. In many respects, I think we underestimate what it is like to play as a forward, midfielder all your life and then find yourself in the backline. It is a great story and he is going very nicely."
Malthouse said his side had come off consecutive six-day breaks, and were still "leg weary" after their demolition in the wet of Port Adelaide in Adelaide last week.
"I thought it was a good effort under the circumstances. A couple of blokes were pretty sore, cramping up. I thought the boys played pretty good football against a very, very good opposition."
He said people had underestimated the effort to beat Port Adelaide in difficult circumstances in Adelaide before returning to face an in-form St Kilda unit on the hard, fast track of Etihad Stadium.
"I thought the boys pushed through that and I think we held a five-goal lead at one stage in the last quarter and they kicked the last couple of goals," Malthouse said.
The Magpies do have two concerns arising from the match. Sharrod Wellingham left the field late in the last quarter with what looked like a hip injury although Malthouse believed he could be right for next week's clash against Brisbane.
"We are thinking he got a nice knee right on the hip. We will assess that as the week goes on, but we are pretty confident that is all it is," he said.
When asked what he thought about the report of Tarrant, who found himself on report after a shepherd on Koschitzke late in the second quarter, Malthouse said very little. "Exactly what you just said, a shepherd."
The coach is hopeful Chris Dawes, who has been out with a broken knuckle, and Alan Toovey, who has also been missing with a hand injury, could return to the side in the coming weeks. The coach said Dawes could return through the VFL next week, while Toovey would not be far behind.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
