Mark Robinson explores whether Carlton coach Mick Malthouse should retire given negative comments about modern football
MICK Malthouse is a coaching giant and clearly he carries a giant frustration. Who could blame him? But, has the time come for him to walk away?
Mark Robinson
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MICK Malthouse is a coaching giant and clearly he carries a giant frustration.
Who could blame him?
A year and a half into this fourth coming, his Blues are spent. They sit 4-9 on the ladder, ahead of the Western Bulldogs, Greater Western Sydney and Melbourne on percentage.
It’s a far cry from the popping of champagne corks at Visy Park on September 11, 2012, when the Blues announced Malthouse as the replacement for sacked coach Brett Ratten, who took the Blues from 15th to a peak of fifth in almost six years in charge.
IF I WASN’T COACHING I’D HATE THE GAME
LOOKING THROUGH BLUE COLOURED GLASSES
Ratten won 59 games, lost 56 and drew one. Malthouse’s record is 16 wins and 21 losses.
There is a collective blame at Carlton, but you got the impression this week, Malthouse was also blaming the game for his failings
It might’ve been a very public moment of reflection about a sport he’s been involved in for 40 years, but for Malthouse to say he’d “hate’’ the game if we wasn’t coaching makes you wonder why he continues to coach.
He’d hate the game, he said. An AFL coach, who preaches positivity, encouragement and the awesomeness of achievement, tells the football world, and his players, he’d detest the sport if he wasn’t coaching.
The question is: Why would he say it?
Why Malthouse and not, say, Ken Hinkley who sits atop the ladder? Why not Alastair Clarkson or John Longmire? The Scott bothers love the game and they tell us that every second week.
Mark Thompson loves the game and it’s why he’s coaching again. Nathan Buckley, who replaced Malthouse at Collingwood, is a cool head amid the frantic bashing of the game.
Heck, Alan Richardson hasn’t slept for three weeks but if you asked him, I’m sure he’d say he’d still love the game.
But Malthouse, well, he said it. He hates the rolling mauls which, to be honest, are a coaching strategy. He hates the esthetics of the game which can also be blamed on the coaches. The sixth man? Yep, that’s the coaches. The rubbish kicking backwards and sideways? The coaches. Get the ball out of bounds? Coaches again. Lock down tags. Numbers at the contest. Third man on top of the tackle. Avoiding down the line. Coaches. Coaches. Coaches.
Malthouse isn’t to be accused as much others for the defensive strangulation, but there’s no denying Malthouse plays his role.
After declaring his frustration with the game, Malthouse was asked why, then, was he still coaching.
He answered: Winning.
Certainly, Malthouse’s competitiveness remains relevant. He’s feisty. He’s as animated as any coach in the box and at the breaks and, if push came to shove, Malthouse would probably kick you in the head if it meant an advantage to his team.
It’s why his comments this week were surprising.
Indeed, his comments throughout the season have swayed from bullishly positive to outrageously negative. Seriously, who knows if Carlton are going to severely cull or tinker with their list? The message leans both ways depending on the result.
Arguably, he’s frustrated with the game because he’s frustrated with his team.
It’s not the game’s fault, it’s the fault of his team which, by extension, is the fault of Malthouse. For he is the coach after all.
His Blues are inconsistent with their effort. That would kill Malthouse. If there ever was a quality of Malthouse-coached teams, it was the maniacal effort his teams possess. He is a giant of the game because he is able to gather a group of men for the cause. He gets into individual’s heads and makes them believe. He makes individuals believe in each other. Individuals become a team. The team becomes a cause. The cause becomes the journey.
Malthouse has never hated the game before, not that I know of.
And he’s been tested before like he is now.
So, why the damnation?
Most of us have a hankering of yesteryear, but the sport, like life, evolves and changes and presents new challenges and you have to deal with them.
Hinkley is. Clarkson always has. And Ross Lyon doesn’t even know what he did yesterday he’s so focused on tomorrow.
But with Malthouse hankering for yesteryear, it lends itself to nostalgia.
He often says if a player is thinking about his future, he might as well retire.
Can the same be said of a man desiring the past?
Originally published as Mark Robinson explores whether Carlton coach Mick Malthouse should retire given negative comments about modern football
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