Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse praised his team for their mental toughness after they beat arch-rivals Carlton by 19 points in their AFL blockbuster.

The Magpies overcame a tumultuous build-up to Saturday's clash to win 13.20 (98) to 11.13 (79) in front of 85,936 fans at the MCG.

On Thursday night, Malthouse gave an explosive TV interview where he left open the slight possibility of leaving the club at the end of the season, rather than staying on as director of coaching.

On Friday, the AFL banned Magpies' defender Heath Shaw for eight games and fined captain Nick Maxwell over betting offences.

"It's been certainly a big couple of days, with Heath and Nick, and I pay credit to our players because this happened yesterday - this is not Monday, Tuesday where you get over it," Malthouse said.

"This is on the eve of a game.

"These are young men, who have emotions like anyone else and a bit of a roller-coaster late in the week doesn't help your preparation for a big game.

"This is as good a win as we've had, under the circumstances."

Malthouse also had a scheduled meeting on Friday with the Magpies to discuss the director of coaching role, but would not comment further on his situation.

"I'm not talking about that - this is Collingwood versus Carlton," he said.

Collingwood extended their lead at each change on Saturday and basically won because they made fewer mistakes.

They also won contested marks 21 to 11, with Collingwood key forward Travis Cloke taking five of them.

While Malthouse called his team's goalkicking "very ordinary", Carlton coach Brett Ratten said the Blues' lack of contested marks was a pattern in their game they had to overcome.

There were also seven hit-the-post behinds in the match - Carlton kicked six of them - and Ratten, like Malthouse, rued his team's errors.

Malthouse praised Carlton's play and Ratten said while they have lost three of their past four games, Saturday was a definite improvement in how they played.

Carlton will lose fourth spot if West Coast beat St Kilda on Saturday night.

"The plan and the way we played, there were a lot of things to be excited about," Ratten said.

"This week, in comparison, we were a fair bit bolder with our play and that's the way we need to play.

"From that side, it was good ... virtually the possessions were the same, but just our turnovers really killed us."

Carlton captain Chris Judd shone with 35 disposals, as Collingwood opponents Dale Thomas and Scott Pendlebury also had massive games.

Cloke kicked three goals and Leon Davis played a pivotal role for Collingwood when thrown forward in the second half.

Collingwood defender Alan Toovey suffered a finger injury and Carlton's Aaron Joseph was subbed off with hamstring tightness.

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