The Pies blew the Eagles away in the first and third terms in a game they were heavily favoured to win.
Malthouse was particularly pleased with the way his players were able to withstand the expectations placed on them in the lead up to the clash with the bottom-eight side.
“These are the teams that you’re supposed to win [against] and if you have one moment … we’re such an even side, if there is a collective ‘take a deep breath and breathe out’ before the right time, we will struggle.
“On that front it was good because we kept the pressure on.”
He described the performance as reasonably compact and said it stemmed from an even contribution across the board.
> Watch the players sing the song in the rooms after the win“We used the ball a bit better than we have in the last month, we’ve got the ability to claw back from situations; we were done over in stoppages early and we were able to reassess it,” he said.
“There’s more maturity in the group so that maturity at half time was able to analyse where we thought we were going wrong and rectify it.”
Former Sydney Swan Darren Jolly was best afield with four goals, 16 hit-outs and 20 touches, which Malthouse put down to his contentment both on and off the field.
A potential player was unearthed in recently elevated rookie Jarryd Blair, who came into the side as a late replacement for Steele Sidebottom.
Malthouse said the 20-year-old was “a good story” after he found his way to the club despite being initially overlooked in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft.
> Watch Jarryd Blair speak to CTV about his debut on Saturday night“I don’t know how long he’s going to play or how many games; I really wouldn’t want to put numbers on it,” he said after Blair’s 16-possession, five-tackle performance.
“I hope this is the start of a long career.
“I thought he was like pepper and salt; he was in everything.”
Sidebottom was a late withdrawal from the side with a calf complaint but was close to lining up.
Defender Simon Prestigiacomo ended the game with what appeared to be a sore hip but Malthouse attributed this to his veteran status rather than injury.
