Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse believes the evenness of performance he's been striving to achieve with his young line-up is what got the Magpies over the line in a torrid clash with St Kilda at the MCG on Saturday.
The Magpies rallied from 21 points down early in the final quarter of the match played in steady rain throughout to kick the last four goals of the contest to get up by nine points.
"We don't want a football side around one person and this is one of the very few times in the last eight years that I've been able to say, 'we're getting what I want'," Malthouse told his post-match media conference.
"Along the line we're starting to get that evenness that a good football side should have.
"I don't know how long it's going to take, it's going to take a lot longer than one year … but we want players to demonstrate if they've got some flair to use it, but they must stay inside the tram tracks which we set which is pretty broad."
Malthouse paid special tribute to his younger players including second-game forward Ben Reid, defender Tyson Goldsack, Shannon Cox whose brief was to pinch-hit in the ruck, and Dale Thomas whose two final term goals clinched the points for the Pies.
"I think it was just terrific. There's so many players having light bodies, those conditions aren’t meant for that," Malthouse said.
"You go in knowing we've got light bodies, they’re going to be knocked around a fair bit, but these blokes never cease to amaze me with their never-say-die attitude, it's just been terrific.
"We weather football gives you little surprises - I just thought we made so many errors in that third quarter, along with other people … but at three-quarter-time I certainly believed we could still win the game."
Malthouse said he had no gripe about four 50 metre penalties that were paid against Collingwood and which contributed directly to two St Kilda goals, but he agreed that the wet weather made the enforcement of the hands-in-the-back rule more problematic.
"I could say a lot of things and I think the umpires are under enormous pressure," he said.