MICK Malthouse has applauded Carlton captain Marc Murphy for a brave Anzac Day performance that helped ease the club back from the brink of crisis.
The Blues faced a second consecutive 0-4 start to a season if they failed to overcome St Kilda on Wellington on Saturday, and had been in the spotlight for a number of reasons - including Malthouse's future – in recent weeks.
But Murphy, who spoke candidly on Friday about how he wanted to be the Blues' next captain despite the club's resounding use of the word "rebuilding", stood up when his team needed him most to win the Crowl-McDonald Medal in the 40-point victory.
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Malthouse said the captain's 34-possesion game came because of "damn hard work" that set the standard for the rest of the team. Young midfielder Patrick Cripps followed Murphy's lead, playing a strong contested game.
"I think Murph's copped so many negatives because he's a victim of us being zip and three," Malthouse said.
Click here to watch Mick Malthouse's full post-match press conference
"He absorbed both the physical pressure of St Kilda today, and the pressure of a club going in zip and three and leading from the front.
"I'm delighted for him, this is a great testament to what I've been saying all along, there's different characters that make captains - they're not all out of the same hat, they have different types of make-up.
"And, when you have a bloke that is admired and trusted by his teammates, at some stage it'll happen for him."
"He got a lot of free kicks but he earned them. That's what makes players look and go, 'Well, the captain's doing it.'"
Malthouse, who attended the Wellington Dawn Service on Saturday before the game at Westpac Stadium, said "no one should let anyone down on Anzac Day".
And Murphy said he believed the team responded admirably to a quarter-time serve from Malthouse when they trailed by 25 points after they tried to do too much with the ball in the opening term.
"It was really pleasing especially coming in 0-3 and at quarter-time things not going the way Mick had planned and wanted to go," Murphy said.
"For the guys to stand up to a man they did that really well. There were no passengers out there today."
Malthouse has now equaled Jock McHale's record for most matches coached at VFL/AFL level, and will break it next Friday night when the Blues meet Collingwood in his 715th game as a coach.
The three-time premiership coach said he was glad Saturday's game was over, but while he wouldn't play down the impending milestone, he admitted concern about the "burden" it would carry this week.
"I'm not going to treat it with disdain because I think Jock McHale certainly deserves more than that, but the reality is we come into this game and the last thing I thought about was any such number," he said.
"Quite frankly, I can see it being a burden because already there's comparisons, there's numbers, there's he's a great bloke, there's all sorts of comparisons and I'm not into that.
"I will reflect at some stage and I think it's better to reflect than get caught up in ... but having said that I'll have my family there and hopefully all of my grandchildren there.
"I hope we as a team can perform, and the number will roll on and we'll get it over and done with.
"I'm not minimising it, believe me."
