CTV > Mick Malthouse's post-match press conference
CTV > Chris Bryan post-match interview
CTV > Watch the boys sing the song

COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse believes his side didn't play to its best against Melbourne on Monday, but was satisfied it came away with the win considering the emotional motivation the Demons played with.

It was Melbourne's home game, with the AFL last week urging the club's supporters to turn out to ensure it keeps the blockbuster fixture next year, and it came two days after the Demons held their official 150th celebration function.

Malthouse, whose side is familiar with playing on big stages, said it was satisfying to see the Magpies claim the win against such a determined side on a big day for its club.  

"It's very difficult to stay up all the time against a side that says, 'This is the most important game of the year'," he said after the 21-point win.

"Hassa Mann, [Ron] Barassi, the ghost of Norm Smith … if that's what has to get sides up, then perhaps I'm running it differently or wrongly.

"That is not the performance of a bottom side. That is not a performance of a side that has been beaten by 60, 70 and 80 points from time to time, and if it's running on emotion, as one of our senior players said, to play like that and win … at varying stages throughout the year, we wouldn't have won.

"I don't want to say we played poorly, because that does Melbourne an injustice. I thought they played pretty well, but there's no way we played as well as what we have.

"I still get bemused by sides that find more in one game of the year than [others]. It doesn't make a lot of logic to me.

"We held up long enough and made enough mistakes, and they forced the errors and were very good in their tackling."

Malthouse said he was also satisfied with where the Magpies sit at the halfway point of the home-and-away season, with the result over Melbourne lifting them to sixth on the ladder.   

"Someone said today if they were 7-4, they'd take it, and I'm with them," he said.

"We should be better, but we're not and as a consequence, we're not in the top four. The fight now is to stay in the top eight, and we'll treat every game as it should be treated – with caution, with respect, and with our best judgement.

"Seven and four is better than 6-5."

The Magpies' next match comes with another big stage theme about it, with the club set to take on Carlton at the MCG next Sunday on the back of the Blues' inspirational come-from-behind win over Port Adelaide on Sunday.

"They were very good, they finished very well in trying conditions," Malthouse said when asked about the Pies' upcoming assignment.

"They're a good football side, Carlton. You have that many first round picks and you pick up a [Chris] Judd and your first round picks are very good players … at some stage, they're going to click. They're a good football side who will challenge for the eight.

"It will be a good game of footy, but it wouldn't matter if we were playing Carlton or anyone else; we need to improve on today, and I'm sure we will."