COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse has praised his young side, but warned them not to be satisfied with just one finals win following Saturday's dramatic 31-point victory over the Adelaide Crows at AAMI Stadium.
The win was just the seventh time a Victorian team has won a final interstate from 30 attempts since 1991.
"They’re going to get a lot of slaps on the back and that sort of stuff, and it’s important that we refocus – we can’t be satisfied," Malthouse said.
"It was a great result, but we can’t just sit back now and be satisfied that we’ve won our first final.
"They’re so hard to win [finals], so hard to win."
Malthouse revealed that the move to start defender Nick Maxwell in the midfield – where he shut down Adelaide's Scott Thompson and kicked two goals – was his own brainchild.
"I guess that’s where you have the swinging vote as the senior coach," Malthouse said. "Inspiration comes at various times, not all at the football club, and not always at the match committee.
"I’ll say that this one may have been … I can’t really remember, but I was sitting watching something, and thought that Nick because of his devotion to being, one, a solid citizen and two, a solid player and a good leader, I just thought that he may be able to come to grips with that role.
"Given that Scott Burns was out, and (Alan) Didak’s not playing, we just seemed to be just that one player short [through the middle]. And I thought if it works, it would work, and if it didn’t he’d go back to a half-back flank and I’d say 'I’m an idiot'.
"But it worked, and so therefore we’re not idiots at this stage.
"But I don’t know whether I’d do it again next week – it depends on the circumstances."
Malthouse added that players' finals performances were critical to his valuation of them.
"(It’s) one of the pre-requisites of a footballer who's got anything to write home about," he said.
"Our players know without a shadow of doubt that they are comprehensively assessed by myself on the way they perform in finals.
"I’ve seen some terrific players – players who finish high up in the Brownlow or club best and fairest – not handle the occasion.
"At the end of the day those players are better off moving out and finding another club, because you’ve got to be able to trust players.
"In some cases there’s a forgiveness period with kids – they might get one or two more games – but senior players in particular, there’s no forgiveness.
"You play according to what we want, or we play the kids."
