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Mick Malthouse keeps saying publicly that he’s in it for the long haul to coach the Carlton Football Club, but privately you would be surprised if he had the same view considering their parlous state.
Generally, Mick hasn’t been a quitter in his long and decorated coaching career, but you don’t need to be a Rhodes Scholar like AFL chairman and former Carlton skipper Mike Fitzpatrick to know that the 717-game coaching veteran is on borrowed time.
Carlton has a reputation of picking proven coaches more often than not, although their most successful coach in the past 10 years has been Brett Ratten who was untried when he replaced Dennis Pagan late in the 2007 season.
The issue the Blues have is that most of the best coaches are contracted for at least another season, especially the two frontrunners in my book, Alastair Clarkson and Ross Lyon.
However, they can walk away if they are seeking a new challenge or if they’re looking for monetary gain.
If I was Carlton I would target Ross Lyon. And if the Dockers taste premiership success for the first time this year then it might be the ideal time to strike for the besieged former super power of the competition.
Carlton doesn’t have the cattle at the moment and that’s not Mick’s fault. Their recruiting has been too quick fix for far too long but Lyon has the best reputation in the league for getting the most out of a limited playing group.
Look at St Kilda in 2009 and 2010, when they made grand finals: Robert Eddy, Andrew McQualter, Raf Clarke, Zac Dawson and Clint Jones lacked ability but Lyon had faith they could perform roles.
Fremantle has been the same with Dawson, who has again being backed, Ryan Crowley, until his suspension, as well as Clancee Pearce, Tendai Mzungu and Matt DeBoer showing they can perform.
Obviously if the Dockers fall short, Lyon may think he still has unfinished business. But as has been highlighted many times, this season may be the last chance for this group considering almost a third of the playing roster is aged above 29.
However, the way they have started unbeaten after seven rounds, Freo are giving themselves every chance of winning that flag in their 21st season. Lyon has a game plan, which wins home-and-away football more than any coach and therefore puts his team right in the mix.
The only issue with taking over the Carlton job is that they seem to be in rebuild mode for the first time ever, but Lyon has a reputation after fast-tracking a rebuild at Fremantle.
Lyon doesn’t have it in his DNA to stay at one club for too long. It would also look impressive on his CV to win Fremantle’s first premiership and then bring a famous Victorian club like Carlton back to the top.
There’s a long way to go in this season of course, but it seems certain the Blues will need a new coach and Ross would be a great boss.
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