Mick Malthouse

Michael Malthouse (born 17 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer and former Australian Football League (AFL) coach and current media personality. Although his playing career included a premiership for Richmond in 1980, he is best known for his long coaching career at four clubs and holds the record for coaching the most VFL/AFL games.

Mick Malthouse
Personal information
Full name	Michael Malthouse
Date of birth	17 August 1953
Place of birth	Ballarat, Victoria
Original team(s)	North Ballarat
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	76 kg (168 lb)
Position(s)	Defender
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1972–1976	St Kilda	053 0(5)
1976–1983	Richmond	121 (10)
Total		174 (15)
Coaching career^3
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1984–1989	Footscray	135 00(67–66–2)
1990–1999	West Coast	243 0(156–85–2)
2000–2011	Collingwood	286 (163–121–2)
2013–2015	Carlton	054 00(20–33–1)
Club total		718 (406–305–7)
1991–1993	Representative Western Australia	3 (1–2–0)
2008–2010	Australia	4 (2–2–0)
Representative total		7 (3–4–0)
Total		725 (409–309–7)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1983. ^3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2015.
Career highlights
Richmond premiership player: (1980) 2x West Coast premiership coach: (1992, 1994) Collingwood premiership coach: (2010) 2x All-Australian coach: (1991, 2010) 2x Australian International rules coach: (2008, 2010)
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

After beginning as a coach with Footscray in 1984, Malthouse became the most successful coach in the history of the West Coast Eagles, holding several club coaching records including the most grand final appearances (1991, 1992, 1994), most premierships (1992 and 1994, both against Geelong), as well as the highest win ratio.[1] The 1992 AFL Grand Final win was the West Coast Eagles' first ever premiership and the first AFL premiership won by a team from outside Victoria.

Malthouse then coached Collingwood to grand finals in 2002, 2003, 2010 and 2011; with success in the 2010 Grand Final Replay, leading Collingwood to its first premiership since 1990. He spent 2½ seasons as the senior coach of Carlton from 2013 until mid-2015.

Malthouse's coaching career spanned 718 senior games – the all-time VFL/AFL record – over thirty-one seasons.[2] Malthouse was involved as a player or senior coach at six clubs – an AFL record.

Playing career

St Kilda

Recruited from North Ballarat,[3] Malthouse started his football career with St Kilda in 1972, playing 53 senior games including three finals. After being told by then-coach Allan Jeans that he would struggle to get a game in the senior side due to a surfeit of similar-skilled players, he departed for Richmond midway through the 1976 season.

Richmond

At Richmond he played 121 senior games, including six finals and the runaway premiership win over Collingwood in 1980. He was noted for being a tough and solid defender. He retired in 1983.

Coaching career

Footscray: 1984–1989

He was Footscray's senior coach from 1984 to 1989.[4] During his time at the Bulldogs he was known for his tough stance on many players, including Doug Hawkins. The team's final standings in his years in charge were 7th (1984), 3rd (1985), 8th (1986), 7th (1987), 8th (1988) and 13th (1989).[5] He impressed with his dedication and professionalism. Malthouse left the financially stricken club at the end of 1989, weeks before it announced its intentions to merge with Fitzroy; the merger never ultimately went ahead due to a supporter fightback, and Malthouse was criticized by his assistant coach Terry Wheeler for not sticking by his club during its time of need.[6]

West Coast Eagles: 1990–1999

For ten years from 1990 he was senior coach for the West Coast Eagles. During his tenure as coach the Eagles made the finals every year, including 1992 and 1994 premierships and 1991 grand finalists.[4] Final minor premiership ladder positions were 3rd, 1st, 4th, 6th, 1st, 5th, 4th, 5th, 7th and 5th (1990–1999).

Collingwood: 2000–2011

Recruited to the Magpies in 2000 by Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, Malthouse coached Collingwood to the finals in eight out of his twelve seasons as coach including grand final appearances in 2002, 2003, 2010 (twice) and 2011. In 2010, after the first drawn AFL/VFL grand final since 1977, Collingwood claimed premiership success with a resounding 56-point win over St Kilda in the replay. This was the club's biggest ever win in a grand final and the first since 1990. In July 2009, McGuire produced a succession plan in which Malthouse was to hand over the coaching reins to club legend Nathan Buckley at the end of the 2011 season. In 2011, Malthouse guided Collingwood to another grand final against the Geelong Cats. After the dramatic three point win over Hawthorn in a preliminary final, he was shown on TV in tears in the coach's box after his side came from 17 points down at the final change to book their place in Malthouse's fifth grand final as Collingwood coach and his eighth overall. Collingwood lost the 2011 AFL Grand Final to Geelong by 38 points. The game was his final one as Collingwood coach. Malthouse advised that he would not be taking on the position as Director of Coaching at Collingwood after the loss and that he had made this decision six weeks earlier.[7] In addition, while coaching Collingwood, Malthouse spent time as a guest media commentator for SEN 1116.

Carlton: 2013–2015

Malthouse was announced as the senior coach of Carlton on 11 September 2012 for the next three seasons.[8] In 2013 the Blues initially finished ninth on the ladder, but were raised to eighth place after Essendon were penalised for its well-documented supplements scandal, following a one-point win over Port Adelaide in the final round, which kept North Melbourne from overtaking them on percentage. Carlton subsequently defeated Richmond in its elimination final, thus making Malthouse the most successful finals coach ever.

Carlton struggled for the remainder of his tenure at the club. His 2014 campaign began with four consecutive losses[9] en route to a 13th-place finish; and in 2015, the club sat last with a record of 1–7 after eight weeks. As the club's on-field performances also deteriorated, there was intense media speculation about Malthouse's position, and the public relationship between Malthouse and club administration – notably president Mark LoGiudice and CEO Steven Trigg, who had both been in the roles since mid-2014 – also deteriorated. On 26 May 2015, hours after giving a radio interview on Melbourne Station SEN which was highly critical of the club's administrators, Malthouse was sacked.[10]

Statistics

Playing statistics

[11]

Legend

G

Goals

B

Behinds

K

Kicks

H

Handballs

D

Disposals

M

Marks

T

Tackles

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
1972	St Kilda	37	9	0	0	42	6	48	13	N/A	0.0	0.0	4.7	0.7	5.3	1.4	N/A
1973	St Kilda	37	16	2	0	170	33	203	41	N/A	0.1	0.0	10.6	2.1	12.7	2.6	N/A
1974	St Kilda	37	7	1	2	53	11	64	7	N/A	0.1	0.3	7.6	1.6	9.1	1.0	N/A
1975	St Kilda	22	18	1	2	133	45	178	29	N/A	0.1	0.1	7.4	2.5	9.9	1.6	N/A
1976	St Kilda	22	3	1	2	19	4	23	0	N/A	0.3	0.7	6.3	1.3	7.7	0.0	N/A
1976	Richmond	22	9	3	1	107	49	156	22	N/A	0.3	0.1	11.9	5.4	17.3	2.4	N/A
1977	Richmond	28	13	5	4	144	72	216	24	N/A	0.4	0.4	11.1	5.5	16.6	1.8	N/A
1978	Richmond	7	20	1	2	244	94	338	49	N/A	0.1	0.1	12.2	4.7	16.9	2.5	N/A
1979	Richmond	7	10	1	1	99	48	147	16	N/A	0.1	0.1	9.9	4.8	14.7	1.6	N/A
1980†	Richmond	7	23	0	3	210	108	318	39	N/A	0.0	0.1	9.1	4.7	13.8	1.7	N/A
1981	Richmond	7	21	0	0	203	103	306	33	N/A	0.0	0.0	9.7	4.9	14.6	1.6	N/A
1982	Richmond	7	23	0	0	195	86	281	42	N/A	0.0	0.0	8.5	3.7	12.2	1.8	N/A
1983	Richmond	7	2	0	1	26	2	28	1	N/A	0.0	0.5	13.0	1.0	14.0	0.5	N/A
Career			174	15	18	1645	661	2306	316	N/A	0.1	0.1	9.5	3.8	13.3	1.8	N/A

Coaching statistics

[12]

Legend
W	Wins	L	Losses	D	Draws	W%	Winning percentage	LP	Ladder position	LT	League teams

Season	Team	Games	W	L	D	W %	LP	LT
1984	Footscray	22	11	11	0	50.0%	7	12
1985	Footscray	25	17	8	0	68.0%	2	12
1986	Footscray	22	11	11	0	50.0%	8	12
1987	Footscray	22	11	10	1	52.3%	7	14
1988	Footscray	22	11	11	0	50.0%	8	14
1989	Footscray	22	6	15	1	29.5%	13	14
1990	West Coast	26	17	8	1	67.3%	3	14
1991	West Coast	26	21	5	0	80.8%	1	15
1992†	West Coast	25	18	6	1	74.0%	4	15
1993	West Coast	22	13	9	0	59.1%	6	15
1994†	West Coast	25	19	6	0	76.0%	1	15
1995	West Coast	24	14	10	0	58.3%	5	16
1996	West Coast	24	16	8	0	67.7%	4	16
1997	West Coast	24	13	11	0	54.2%	5	16
1998	West Coast	23	12	11	0	52.2%	7	16
1999	West Coast	24	13	11	0	54.2%	5	16
2000	Collingwood	22	7	15	0	31.8%	15	16
2001	Collingwood	22	11	11	0	50.0%	9	16
2002	Collingwood	25	15	10	0	60.0%	4	16
2003	Collingwood	25	17	8	0	68.0%	2	16
2004	Collingwood	22	8	14	0	36.4%	13	16
2005	Collingwood	22	5	17	0	22.7%	15	16
2006	Collingwood	23	14	9	0	60.9%	5	16
2007	Collingwood	25	15	10	0	60.0%	6	16
2008	Collingwood	24	13	11	0	54.2%	8	16
2009	Collingwood	25	16	9	0	64.0%	4	16
2010†	Collingwood	26	20	4	2	80.8%	1	16
2011	Collingwood	25	22	3	0	88.0%	1	17
2013	Carlton	24	12	12	0	50.0%	8	18
2014	Carlton	22	7	14	1	34.1%	13	18
2015	Carlton	8	1	7	0	12.5%	18	18
Career totals		718	406	305	7	57.0%

Honours and achievements

Playing honours

Team

• VFL/AFL Premiership (Richmond): 1980

Coaching honours

Team

• VFL/AFL Premiership (West Coast): 1992, 1994
• VFL/AFL Premiership (Collingwood): 2010
• McClelland Trophy (West Coast): 1991, 1994
• McClelland Trophy (Collingwood): 2010, 2011
• Pre-Season Cup (Collingwood): 2011

Individual

• Jock McHale Medal: 1992, 1994, 2010
• All-Australian: 1991, 2010
• Australia Coach for International Rules Football: 2008, 2010
• Western Australia State of Origin Coach: 1991-1993

Family

Malthouse is married with four children, including sports reporter and AFL boundary rider Christi Malthouse.

Media career

Prior to finishing coaching Collingwood, Malthouse spent time as a guest media commentator for SEN 1116. In 2012 he was a media commentator for the Seven Network and radio station 3AW and a journalist for The West Australian. In addition, he has appeared weekly on the 5AA sports show with Graham Cornes and Stephen Rowe. In 2016, Malthouse replaced Dermott Brereton as a commentator of matches on SEN 1116 as well as being named coach of The Recruit.[13] After being fired by SEN at the end of 2017, Malthouse joined the ABC as a commentator on its football coverage.

Between coaching period

Malthouse was quoted as saying he would like a senior coaching role with Cricket Australia.[14] He has released an autobiography, The Ox is Slow but the Earth is Patient.

Malthouse joined 3AW and Seven Network in media roles after finishing coaching at Collingwood.

In 2012, La Trobe University appointed Malthouse as a Vice Chancellor's Fellow. As a leader and mentor, Malthouse works with staff, students and the community and leads the development of sport at the university - including programs to support La Trobe's academic programs in sports journalism, sports management, physiotherapy podiatry and other sports related academic programs.[15]

Malthouse wrote an opinion piece, "Academia and Experience", about his approach to his new role which was published as a La Trobe University Opinion on 14 February 2012. In this he wrote that "'Education for the future needs a lot more than specialised knowledge and skills. It requires life experience. This is what La Trobe expects me to bring to my new role as Vice-Chancellors Fellow. It is a challenge I will relish. The aim is to place more emphasis on the non-academic side of campus life: practical experience, teamwork, leadership skills and community involvement. In my view, the importance of these aspects of education real-world experience are being seriously overlooked by too many institutions."[16]

Playing and coaching achievements

• 1985 and 1991 Players Association Coach of the Year
• 1991 Inaugural AFL Coach of the Year
• 1992 Institute of Sport Coach of the Year[4]
• Richmond premiership player 1980
• West Coast premiership coach 1992 and 1994
• West Coast Eagles Hall of Fame
• 2008 International Rules Series Coach
• 2010 International Rules Series Coach
• 2010 AFLCA Coach of the Year
• Collingwood premiership coach 2010
• 2nd longest serving coach of the Collingwood FC behind Jock McHale.
• Most games coached at AFL/VFL level.
• 3rd most wins as coach (all time).

References

1. "West Coast Coaches Win-Loss Records".
2. "Coaches Win-Loss Records".
3. Nick's Collingwood Page – The Players – Michael Malthouse. Magpies.net (1953-08-17). Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
4. "Speaker Mick Malthouse Full Biography – Speakers Bureau @ ICMI". Archived from the original on 23 September 2006. Retrieved 4 September 2006.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Icmi.com.au. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
5. AFL Ladder 1989 Round 22 –. Finalsiren.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.
6. Tony de Bolfo; Daryl Timms (24 October 1989). "Tide of hope". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. pp. 79–80.
7. "Mick Malthouse reveals he won't continue at Magpies as director of coaching in wake of grand final". Fox Sports. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
8. "Malthouse named Carlton Coach". Retrieved 11 September 2012.
9. McFarlane, Glenn (12 April 2014). "Carlton coach Mick Malthouse says he won't panic just because Blues are 0-4". Herald Sun.
10. Michael Warner; Mark Robinson; Eliza Sewell; Jon Anderson (26 May 2015). "Mick Malthouse sacked: Carlton terminates veteran coach's contract after explosive radio interview". Herald Sun. Melbourne, VIC. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
11. Mick Malthouse's player profile at AFL Tables
12. Mick Malthouse's coaching profile at AFL Tables
13. "Mick Malthouse joins SEN". Retrieved 28 March 2016.
14. mick-malthouse-to-ponder-future-in-cricket
15. "AFL great joins Team La Trobe"
16. "Academia and Experience"

External links

• Greenberg, Tony (21 October 2012). "Top 20 Tiger trade pick-ups: No. 7". Richmond Football Club. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.