COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse believes his young players will enter Saturday's grand final replay better prepared than they were seven days ago, because they now have crucial experience on the biggest stage.

Alan Didak, Ben Johnson and dropped forward Leon Davis were the only selected Magpies to have featured in a grand final before last Saturday's draw, with seven members of Collingwood's 22 having played fewer than 50 games.

The Saints, however, had just one player - Robert Eddy - with fewer than 50 games' experience, and 20 of their selected 22 played in the 2009 grand final.

"For young players to sample the physicality off the ball, the intensity at the ball, the noise, the closeness of the game - you could never duplicate that on the training track or tell players that.," Malthouse said from the Westpac Centre on Friday.

"It really has to come from sampling it and they sampled two hours of the hottest football we've seen for some time.

"They learned that's what was going to happen to them, and under those circumstances they're ready for it now."

With the battle for this year's premiership stretching into a second week, the challenge for both camps has been as much about mental preparation as it has been physical recovery.

Malthouse said the Pies had addressed last week's draining clash quickly and restored a sense of normality by Sunday morning.

"As much as [the players] were still reasonably quiet about the game, we didn't take long to get back into full training on Monday and have a solid week of preparation mentally," the coach said.

"I've always maintained that if you're mentally not ready to play, it doesn't matter how you've built.

"If you're not mentally prepared, you're not prepared. If you're physically under-prepared but you're mentally strong, I'll guarantee that player gets through better."