Winning matches interstate is critical for setting up a team’s season, Mick Malthouse writes

FOR teams outside Victoria the travel toll is large and winning interstate is a must to play finals but the importance of winning outside Melbourne is crucial too, for Victorian clubs. Mick Malthouse reveals what road wins mean to clubs.

Jake Stringer celebrates a goal during Essendon’s upset win over West Coast at Perth Stadium.

A COUPLE of weeks ago I tipped West Coast to finish the season in the top two and give the flag a real shake.

But I wasn’t surprised when the Eagles lost to Sydney at the SCG, because I half expected it. It is a small and awkward shaped ground for many teams to counter, the Eagles included.

I was surprised, however, that they gave up a home game to Essendon a week later. Even with Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy out of the side.

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In the end it was not only an enormous physical win for the Bombers, but it will no doubt be a huge psychological victory for them, too.

For non-Victorian clubs who travel virtually every second week, winning and losing is par for the course. But for a Victorian club to win on the road against a top team is season affirming.

It reinforces your values and cements your confidence.

Travelling unites your team in a way that turning up at the change rooms two hours before a game can’t.

Travelling together for away games helped build West Coast’s future in the early years, former coach Mick Malthouse says. Picture: Getty

In 1990, my first year at West Coast, we travelled for the final six matches — two home-and-away games, a drawn qualifying final and replay, and two more finals at Waverley Park.

In those 36,000km our future as a club was established.

We lost the preliminary final to Essendon, but what we weathered in that time became what we stood for as a team. It set the agenda. It set the profile. It set the culture. And it set the belief.

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We weren’t given any favours by the AFL, but we still went on to win the most games of any team in the ’90s and I have no doubt that those six weeks on the road, as tough as they were, were a gift to a new club on the scene.

Stuart Dew must be wondering what this coaching caper is all about, as his Gold Coast Suns became the Travelling Wilburys.

Due to the Commonwealth Games and a “home” game in China, the Suns didn’t host a match at Metricon Stadium until Round 11. They were 3-10 leading into Round 15 after starting well then fading.

All of Richmond’s losses this season have been interstate.

I can assure Stuart that the mental strength he and his team will gain from this year will far outweigh the negative physical effects they are now experiencing because of constant travel.

By surviving this year, he will be able to tell his team: “No matter what they throw at us, we are equipped to handle it.”

Richmond’s three losses on the road this season aren’t as dramatic, but one can argue that had the Tigers been at home, they may have won them.

The toll on the body is the biggest consequence of travel. Very few Eagles or Dockers — or to a lesser extent, Brisbane or Gold Coast players — will play beyond 300 games.

Medical and conditioning staff at these clubs work overtime to get players up just to train on a regular basis.

In my 10 years in the West it was very rare to have a full complement of players training early in the week. Flying exacerbates bruising and soft tissue injuries by increasing the swelling, which any footballer will tell you is painful AND a pain in the neck, when all you want to do is get back on the ground.

Jake Stringer celebrates a goal during Essendon’s upset win over West Coast at Perth Stadium.

I am in such admiration for my West Coast players from that decade. Knowing what they went through physically, it’s incredible that we still contested finals every year for 10 seasons.

Back to 2018, Essendon’s win over the Eagles in Perth may be the giant boost in confidence it needs to finish off the season on a high.

On the flip side, the Eagles have to reverse that psychology.

Collingwood finished 16th and last in 1999, but in 2002 we played off in a Grand Final.

We went to Adelaide to take on ladder leader Port Adelaide in the qualifying final. It was considered by many as too great a challenge for our young team.

The resulting 13-point win was a huge step forward in the minds of the players.

I couldn’t believe the confidence in the team as we entered the preliminary final against Adelaide at the MCG, on the back of that victory.

It virtually propelled us to within two straight kicks from beating one of the greatest teams in history, the Brisbane Lions.

Collingwood players celebrate a big upset win over minor premiers Port Adelaide in the 2002 qualifying final.

It is fair to say that non-Victorian clubs have a distinct advantage at home when it comes to the ground and the crowds. But it works both ways and the supporter noise is one-sided wherever they play — for or against.

The supreme test for any interstate club is to be pitted against Collingwood or Melbourne or Richmond at the MCG.

The home of football is where the big dance takes place, but unfortunately many of the non-Victorian clubs don’t get the chance to play multiple games there during the home-and-away rounds.

Taking everything into account, and the accumulative effect too, it is tougher to win away than many people believe.

But when you win, whether you’re a Victorian club on the road, or an interstate team flying in and out, a victory is so much more than that. It’s a catalyst for greater things.

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