The win still hasn't stopped Patrick Smith linking Malthouse to us .....For sale: one used coach - maintenance needed but great for kidsPatrick Smith | April 27, 2009
McGuire knows how good Malthouse is at doing his job. So does the board and so do the players. So, if Malthouse is not, and doesn't need to, promote himself to Collingwood then just who or what is his target? Try Richmond. North Melbourne. Or the Gold Coast.
Terry Wallace has taken the Tigers to their first win of the season. It was a competent, well-drilled win over North Melbourne but with a great emotional prize on the siren. Wallace has been let down by a bumbling board and an amateurish administration. If you did not know better, one look from the outside might suggest they had all but willed him, if not to defeat, certainly to disappear.
The victory also marked the return to football of Mark Coughlan, such an influential midfielder before being struck by recurring knee injuries two years ago. He had 16 possessions which must have felt the most wonderful of his life. He was drowned in sport drink and congratulations back in the rooms.
But as good as Wallace is, he won't be at Richmond next year. Not if president Gary March is. The two could not possibly co-exist past this year. But Richmond is Malthouse's old club. The recruiting of Ben Cousins drove membership, the return of Malthouse next year would do more of the same.
Malthouse can do everything as coach - teach the kids, make the ordinary better, win premierships, humiliate journalists. That's why he would work at Richmond and why he is almost a must at the Gold Coast. He brings expertise but also credibility and marketing power. Malthouse has been coaching since 1984 (Footscray) and has been in charge of 593 games. He could work on recruiting and building the list through next year, ready and refreshed to take Gold Coast into its first AFL match in 2011.
There are qualifiers to all these scenarios. Geelong's guru Neil Balme is wanted as football manager at Richmond and at the Gold Coast. He has worked with Malthouse at Collingwood, would he want to work with him again?
Full article at:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25390286-12270,00.html