Watch Mick Malthouse address the media in his post-match press conference.Collingwood had the game wrapped up halfway through the second term, but when Carlton worked its way back into the contest there was no flooding in sight.
When asked why Collingwood didn’t put players behind the ball, Malthouse said it was “not through lack of effort.”
Watch the team sing the song after the match.But he admitted he “was quite confident” the team could re-establish its ascendancy in the game without resorting to flooding.
“I’ve got have that confidence … in them,” Malthouse said.
After scoring their fifth win for the season, you would think Malthouse would be in a happy place, particularly after Luke Ball’s impressive outing on that helped steer Collingwood to an emphatic 53-point win.
However, Malthouse is disappointed with the way his team is leaking goals.
“[We were the] second best defensive side last year. We’re not that yet and we certainly weren’t it today,” he said.
View the photo gallery from the 53-point win.
“We worked hard enough. I don’t think we worked well. We worked hard enough and once we weathered that storm and got our systems back in place and got a bit more efficient - instead of thinking that we were going to win by 10 goals when clearly we couldn’t have - we started to play better footy.
“There was a complete breakdown in a few of our areas which I think were three-fold: [Carlton’s ability to win] at the stoppage, their grunt at the stoppage and our poor anticipation of what was taking place at the time.”
Watch Sharrod Wellingham speak to CTV in the MCG rooms after the win.But the one thing delighting Malthouse is his star recruits.
“I think Luke Ball has been outstanding for us, both on and off the green. I’ve said it before. I don’t need to repeat myself. If he wasn’t best on ground today I don’t know who was,” Malthouse said.
“And Darren Jolly again, on and off the ground. You can see why he has had the success he has. We’ve recruited two players who have brought a heck of lot to the football club.
“Their character alone is outstanding.”
