COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse was understandably excited by what he described as a special performance and now believes the sky is the limit for his side ahead of playing Geelong in next Friday night's preliminary final.

Malthouse has coached in some amazing finals in his 24 years in the box but after playing like that, he's confident his players can achieve anything.

"I haven't been part of a game quite like that before," Malthouse said.

"I have been part of a drawn final before and we had to go back the next week, so I guess this way is the best way to decide it.

"No matter how long they play for, how many games or years they've got left in them, they can always drag something back from this game to know they can do something special. It was just an amazing effort by both sides."

It was far from a polished performance, as the pressure applied from both sides was enormous and players from Collingwood and West Coast struggled at times, but the evenness of the Pies shone through in the end.

"Some players wouldn't have played as they had dreamt, but still contributed.

"One of our greatest assets this year has been getting a solid contribution across the board. A couple of players got a bit of a touch up, but they were still there when we needed them and played their part," he said.

"That's what you need to win games of footy, as sometimes the evenness gets you over the line rather than relying on someone too heavily.

"A few years ago, it might have been Nathan (Buckley) that we relied heavily on, but he was one of 22 players that we needed to step up and play their role."

The most significant period was when the Eagles rested Dean Cox and Darren Glass late in the third quarter.

The Pies kicked three goals in three minutes to bring the margin back under a kick at three quarter-time, while the final seconds in Collingwood's forward-line was Malthouse's most frustrating.

"As it turned out it was highly significant. I'm not surprised by the effort, but those three goals came pretty quickly given we had scored four in 90 minutes.

"Kicking the goals was good, but the effort to get them was always going to be there," he said.

"My most frustrating point was 30 seconds from full time. It showed something about how fantastic our opposition was, as it was going to be bludgeoned through, kicked through, pushed through, knocked through, rugby tried through, and we couldn't move it. That's full credit to West Coast."

Collingwood fly home to Melbourne on a chartered plane at low altitude, before preparing for Geelong and watching its players affiliated with Williamstown in the VFL play the Coburg Tigers on Sunday.

"We will get home, lick our wounds, ice up, have a good look at our side and watch Willy play on Sunday, which is a little bit of a shame.

"As we will have to be very careful replacing someone that plays on Sunday to play Friday night," he said.

"It was a fantastic result for us. I was continually reminded what sort of traitor I am and that we were a second rate side.

"I look at our group and think the sky is the limit. I'm not saying that we are going to go out and walk all over Geelong as that won't happen, but we will give a good account of ourselves."