How the Tigers missed two chances to land master coach Mick Malthouse AFL.com.au
Callum Twomey
Jun 4, 2019 9:58PMMICK Malthouse's numbers stack up. The most games ever coached (718 in total), three premierships as coach and one as a player, a two-time All Australian coach and more than 40 years in the game.
But Malthouse isn't interested in the numbers, at least not in the case of his induction to the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
"It was a shock when I was told. Then I had to think about 'Why?' and I was hoping to hell it wasn't about numbers," he told AFL.com.au.
"I hope I've earned it enough through other deeds than just based on numbers. I've never been a numbers person."
The call that changed the course of a career
There is plenty of substance behind the pure statistics to Malthouse's storied career.
After a debut in 1972 that saw him concussed and unable to remember anything from the game, Malthouse played 53 games at St Kilda under legendary coach Allan Jeans before three clubs – Richmond, Hawthorn and Carlton – came knocking for the dependable defender at the end of 1976.
He chose the Tigers, and quickly became a mainstay of their defence. But at 26, and with a coaching career entering his mind, he contemplated retirement at the end of 1979. It could have changed the course of his footballing life, for he stayed to be a part of Richmond's 1980 flag.
"That's one that could've gone either way. I could've gone to Footscray as the under-19s coach and you don't know where that leads you. But to go and get a premiership was pretty special," said Malthouse, now 65.
"It completed me as a player. When I look back on my coaching I was aided by what I did as a player. I played with some very, very good football sides. I played with some terrible sides," he said.
"I played well, I played terrible. I played injured, I played uninjured and I didn't play at all. I had a real mixture of highs and lows.
"Not many players could come into my office and say, 'You don't know', because I probably had been through it."
The Tigers say yes, and then no
Malthouse was to get a few more premierships, but on the other side of the fence. He retired at the end of 1983, but in another sliding doors moment, could have been coach at Richmond immediately, as the Tigers were replacing champion Francis Bourke.
Malthouse was offered the role, accepted it and was then told he wouldn't be getting it.
"They said I had it and don't tell anyone. I told my wife, that's all, and within days, I didn't have the job. Then within a week I had the reserves job, which I was happy about as well. But then within a week I had lost that, too," Malthouse recalled.
He didn't have long to dwell on it, quickly being locked in as Footscray's head coach.
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He broke his contract at the Eagles at the end of 1999 to head back to Victoria, where he was chased by several clubs, including Richmond and Collingwood. He says the pitch made by new Magpies president Eddie McGuire sealed the deal.
"I wanted to go to Richmond, but there was someone at Richmond I couldn't work with. McGuire had easily the best case because what he presented was about the future," he said.
https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-06-04/mick-malthouse-afl-hall-of-fame
