He admitted to suffering from pre-match nerves along with a raft of young players making their debuts.
And Buckley, who will take over as coach at season's end, said he was aware that Malthouse was "actually sitting in the passenger seat watching me drive" the Collingwood machine.
"It's a little bit nerve-wracking at times because it's not my car and I'm trying to drive it as well as I can for the period I've got it," he said.
Buckley said the Magpies achieved a good balance of blooding young players and getting game time into experienced hands in their convincing wins.
The Pies smashed Richmond by 43 points before outlasting Carlton by seven to top their pool and move through to the qualifying finals of the competition.
Buckley, who coached as part of Mick Malthouse's pre-season rotation of assistants at the helm, said there were plenty of positives aside from the results including "the continuation of fantastic stories" in Chris Tarrant and Andrew Krakouer.
"There's a lot of nerves that come into this match and I think it's an opportunity to get out and play against an opposition and just get a touch of the footy again," Buckley said.
"I thought our boys achieved a lot in that regard."
Buckley praised Kirk Ugle's clean skills, Jack Perham and Scott Reed's work in attack, Lachlan Keefe's progression and the games of Alex Fasolo, Jye Bolton and Tom Hunter.
"All of them are going to come out of the match with an understanding of how far they need to go if they're going to make the grade as senior footballers," he said.
He said he was confident Krakouer could take the second half form he showed against Carlton and keep improving, but he urged fans to be patient.
"It's going to take a bit of time for him," Buckley said.
"He's been fantastic in training and in our intra-clubs and now the pressure goes up again in this format and only increases as we get towards round one.
"As the season goes through it ebbs and flows, but the intensity is going to rise and I think he's more than capable of finding the level."
Buckley was indifferent to the trial out of bounds rule that had been criticised by Dean Bailey and Damien Hardwick.
"I don't think it has any place in our test cricket game, but it may be a good 20-20 rule for us to use every now and again," he said.
Chris Dawes copped a knock in the second match but is expected to be fine for the next round while Travis Cloke, Tyson Goldsack and Darren Jolly could come into the side.
