Marc Murphy gives Carlton coach Mick Malthouse something to celebrate

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CARLTON 1.2 6.4 12.9 18.13 (121)
ST KILDA 5.3 8.6 10.8 12.9 (81)
Goals: Carlton: L Henderson 5 T Bell 4 A Everitt 2 B Gibbs 2 D Armfield D Ellard L Jones P Cripps Z Tuohy.
St Kilda: C Shenton 2 J Bruce 2 J Lonie 2 J Sinclair 2 D Armitage J Billings J Steven L Dunstan.
Umpires: Chris Donlon, Ben Ryan, Andrew Stephens.
Official Crowd: 12,125 at Westpac Stadium

WELLINGTON - Ninety minutes before the first bounce on Saturday, Mick Malthouse was on the ground, alone, ball in hand, walking from goal square to goal square, tossing handfuls of grass into the air to test the breeze. The setting was new, the mission the same as it's been for 30 years.

Andrejs Everitt of Carlton (R) is applauded off the field by teammates after playing his 100th game. Photo: Getty Images

Two hours later he was surrounded by his Carlton players, reminding them of what was required in a fashion footballers who long ago hung up their Footscray, West Coast and Collingwood jumpers remember well. The Blues were 25 points down at quarter-time, and their coach was in danger of entering an historic week in no mood for fanfare.

"I don't know whether it'd be reassuring," Malthouse said of the message he delivered. "There were a couple of little friendly reminders."

"Yep, nice and friendly," confirmed his captain, Marc Murphy.

Mick Malthouse and Marc Murphy line up during the pre-match ceremony. Photo: Getty Images

Both could afford a wry smile after the Blues scrapped their way back into the contest, then bulldozed to a 40-point win over St Kilda.

No one has coached more often than Malthouse now, who for six days will sit alongside Jock McHale before taking his tally to 715 games when the Blues play Collingwood on Friday night. He can't wait for it to be over, but at least now it is an occasion to look forward to.

For that he has many of his players to thank after a performance that was democratic if not eye-catching, and none more than Murphy. Jack Newnes wore him like cling film, had Adam Schneider and Luke Dunstan help out, yet Carlton's captain won 35 possessions, 24 of them contested, and drove his team to victory. 

On Friday he'd stood outside the Wellington railway station and pledged full faith in his coach. His actions on Saturday – rewarded with the medal for best afield – were the best endorsement he could muster. 

"I'm delighted for him," Malthouse said, reiterating the theme he had used to support Murphy in the past, that not all captains are drawn from the same hat in terms of make-up. "When you have a bloke that is admired and trusted by his teammates, at some stage it'll happen for him.

"It wasn't a luck thing today, it was damn hard work, it was getting under the pack, it was getting hassled, it was getting bumped, it was getting harassed - all fairly. He got a lot of free kicks but he earned them. That's what makes players look and go, 'Well, the captain's doing it.'"

They followed suit in telling numbers, Patrick Cripps laying tackles, conjuring clearances and winning 23 hard balls of his own, Tom Bell flexing his mighty frame with four second-half goals, Lachie Henderson presenting and trying gut-bustingly hard to pip him with five, Kade Simpson and Zach Tuohy repelling and igniting from defence, Blaine Boekhorst playing his first game as if he'd been around for nearly as long as his coach.

Instead of searching for navy blue names worthy of the best players, it was hard to know who to leave out. Bryce Gibbs, Andrew Walker, Dylan Buckley and Andrejs Everitt were all important contributors, too. An old-fashioned appraisal would have settled for "team effort".

The first 10 minutes flagged a dour contest hijacked by a swirling wind in which sustained pressure would be the day's most potent weapon, and the portents weren't good for the Blues. Everitt appeared to have levelled the scores after the Saints got the jump, only for the central umpire to be told it had missed just as he was about to restart play in the middle. Goals to Luke Dunstan and Josh Bruce in the next three minutes hurt.

Malthouse saw anxiety in his team's play, an overreaching when a more basic approach was required. Once realigned, they slowly turned supremacy in contested possession and forward entries into results.

When Bell bounced two through within a minute in the third quarter, there was less than a kick in it and the arm that was holding the Blues at bay was tiring. Jack Lonie then went across goal unwisely, Everitt intercepted and the Blues were in front.

This was just one of 11 goals Carlton kicked from turnovers, a statistic that furrowed Alan Richardson's brow. "Four of those we can do nothing about defensively. When you kick it straight back to them 40 metres out from goal, that can be quite demoralising," St Kilda's coach lamented.

Billy Longer stood up in the ruck and around the ground, David Armitage battled hard and Jarryn Geary was admirable leading the side in Nick Riewoldt's absence. But as Richardson noted, they were collectively chasing their tails for much of the afternoon.