Coaching great Mick Malthouse calls on footy world and Australians to unite against coronavirus threat
The coronavirus crisis and the isolation players and coaches are experiencing can actually give them a competitive edge when footy returns. Coaching legend Mick Malthouse reveals how.
Mick Malthouse
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The world is at war.
There is no human enemy, but the threat to human life makes COVID-19 an enemy to all.
Every disaster or state of emergency, globally or nationally — war, drought, bushfire, earthquake — creates change.
Change can be hard to deal with. It makes some fearful and others hesitant. But those that prepare for change, who embrace change, who get ahead of change, will not only survive, they will thrive.
So far we know the toll of this pandemic. Lives have been lost, unemployment has risen, the economy is in a perilous nosedive. Our freedom has been caged while we are confined to our homes.
On September 3, 1939, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies said:
“Prompt as the action of many thousands must be, it is for the rest a moment for quiet thinking; for that calm fortitude which rests not upon the beating of drums, but upon the unconquerable spirit of man … What may be before us we do not know, nor how long the journey. In the bitter months that are to come, calmness, resoluteness, confidence and hard
work will be required as never before.”
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This of course was his declaration of war. While I am loathe to liken the coronavirus to war, let’s not trivialise this, it is life or death.
I am not a politician. I am not a doctor. I am not an historian. I am, and always will be, a football coach. I know football.
I know that Aussie rules footy won’t be the same after this. There are already victims of the season’s suspension and there will be more.
I also know that unprecedented times calls for unprecedented action.
How the AFL looks after this event, how each club looks after this hiatus, how the nation looks when we have a new normal, depends on what we all do in the meantime.
Meet change head on. Align yourself with the potential for growth. Be better. Lean into family and community. Help others.
Improve. When others sit still, keep fit. When others rest, work on your skills.
Take a positive out of every day, because if you give in to negative thoughts it will weigh you down.
And be a leader.
In times of crisis the need for strong, decisive leaders is vital. Good leaders will stand up.
Coaches will address players on how to stay focused and motivated. Embrace change and think of the big picture. Treat this time as another pre-season and make yourself indispensable. Commit yourself to the team and the greater good of the club. Remember your value. Train. Practice. Prepare. Reassess your goals.
Club presidents will look into the eyes of staff members and ask them to take pay cuts, or time off. They will ask some to leave, as loyalty is replaced by practicality, an unfortunate side-effect. For those still at work, their leaders will appeal for them to hang in there. Dig deep.
Players, coaches and presidents will talk to the supporters for whom the game exists. Remain hopeful. Stay loyal. Think of future flags.
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Winston Churchill’s British bulldog tenacity and his refusal to give in to the might of Nazi Germany when his nation was under siege, inspired and drove Britain to victory in World War II.
Churchill said: “Things are not always right because they are hard, but if they are right, one must not mind if they are also hard.”
John Kennedy’s resolve and strength calmed the American public in 1962, while forcing the Russians to dismantle their nuclear weapons and retreat from Cuba.
Kennedy said: “For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
Nelson Mandela could have been bitter and resentful after 27 years’ imprisonment, but his wisdom and remarkable composure united South Africa without bloodshed and led the transition from apartheid to a multicultural democracy. He was bigger than hate and fear.
Mandela said: “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”
We are in a dynamic situation. It changes daily, like a close footy match. In those games, the team with the guts, and the calm decision makers wins out. That’s what it’s going to take to win this, too.
Draw on your Australian spirit.
In the past year our country has continued to push through a drought. We’ve fought through bushfires. We’ve survived cyclones and floods. And now we take on the fight against COVID-19.
Australians are renowned for their laid back and knockabout approach. It is a great country with wonderful people. We need to combine that “she’ll be right” attitude with being smart and tough.
After the bombing of Darwin in 1942, Australia, clearly with help from the Americans, battled to halt the Japanese invasion of Port Moresby. The Kokoda Trail campaign in the Pacific War was one of those battles. Despite constantly being pushed back, undermanned and virtually unequipped in artillery, the Australian forces fought for four months in dense jungle in the Australian Territory of Papua, for victory.
In the Vietnam War, just outside Saigon in 1962, known as the Battle of Coral, Australian soldiers were attacked at close quarters by North Vietnamese troops who exploited a disorganised defence. Outweighed in numbers, it took persistence and courage, plus tactical alignment with the New Zealand gunners, to overcome the initial attack and subsequent fighting, before victory was declared by the Australian force weeks later. There were mass casualties on both sides.
The soldiers in this war are our medical teams, hospital staff and essential services workers. All brave, all to be thanked.
When this is over and we enter a new world, how we’ve adapted to changes and adjusted our mindset, is how we will carry on.
Who knows how football will look, if it returns this year or next? Shorter games?
Smaller player lists? Different rules? Lower pay? New-look football departments and different roles in them?
So many sacrifices are being made right now, by everyone, everywhere. With sacrifice comes opportunity. Opportunity to grow, to learn, to develop. Treat this war on coronavirus as an opportunity and the sacrifice will seem less.
Nothing ever stays the same. That’s how we evolve.
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