Collingwood's stirring win over St Kilda this weekend told you everything you needed to know about why Mick Malthouse has survived so long in the cut-throat world of AFL coaching.

Malthouse might have his critics - those that point out his lack of premierships won in relation to the number of games and years he has coached, and the fact that it is now 14 years since he last tasted premiership success.

Then there is his seemingly permanently gruff demeanour which does not endear him to all. He has also been criticised for being slow to adapt to the modern-day trend of teams handballing at all costs.

But one area where Malthouse still reigns supreme is his ability to motivate his players and inspire them when their 'backs are against the wall'.

Malthouse just loves it when the world is seemingly against his club as he pointed out in the build-up to Saturday night's courageous win when he said 'no-one wants to see Collingwood succeed except Collingwood people'.

It was the same tactic he used regularly during his 10 years in charge of West Coast, when the Perth club was viewed as an 'outsider' in the AFL competition yet made the finals in every year of the 1990s under Malthouse's reign and won two premierships.

While he has not achieved that level of success at Collingwood, he has steered the club into two grand finals (2002 and 2003) and came within a kick of upsetting eventual premier Geelong in last year's preliminary final. The win over the Saints has the Pies poised to reach their third successive finals series and fifth from his nine years in charge.

In fact, St Kilda now looks the only team in the eight under threat after a round in which Sydney, North Melbourne, Adelaide and Collingwood all consolidated their finals claims while Brisbane, Richmond and Essendon were exposed as not being good enough to make the eight.

That leaves just the disappointing Saints and the much-improved Carlton to fight it out for eighth spot, although the out-of-form Lions still have a chance.

While Malthouse didn't give much away on Saturday night, the win over the Saints must have been one of the most satisfying of his 25-year coaching career.

He had endured one of the toughest weeks of his career and was left feeling betrayed not just by star players Heath Shaw and Alan Didak going out boozing last Sunday night but then lying