Malthouse blames greedy Tigers
19 February 2005
Herald Sun
Jon Pierik
COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse accused counterpart Terry Wallace of being greedy last night after the Magpies' stunning seven-point win in the opening match of the Wizard Cup.
The Tigers led by 25 points early in the final term before a super goal by Anthony Rocca sparked a dramatic comeback and victory.
Buoyed by the match-winning form from the likes of unheralded Andrew Williams and Leon Davis, Malthouse said the Tigers let slip what should have been a fairytale start to Wallace's coaching stint at Punt Rd.
"The game plan that Richmond has under their coach and, this is certainly not a criticism, I think this is probably an asset I certainly haven't got," Malthouse said.
"I reckon if we are 25 points in front or thereabouts, I tend to think well, I'd almost say, 'Blow the siren'. I'd take it."
"Whereas Terry, historically and traditionally, has gone '25, let's go to 50!'. And that is breaking the back of the opposition and quite often that does take place.
"Any games we've won by an extra couple of goals -- and you really think that's cheap goals -- but what it is, is rubbing the opposition into the ground.
"But doing that, it sometimes opens up the floodgates, or opens up (your own defensive) gates.
"If you persevere long enough and things get turned around, and you make the most of your opportunities where we didn't early, sometimes you can latch on to a couple of goals.
"That perhaps (allows you) to get back in and win the game."
Wallace rebuffed Malthouse's comments, saying his side did its best to defend what should have been a match-winning lead.
"When you get that far in front, you should win that game of footy, we tried to save it and you learn very, very quickly that you can't save footy games," Wallace said.
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