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Mick Malthouse talks to his team at 1/4 time during the AFL Round 03 match between St Kilda Saints and the Collingwood Magpies at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. Slattery Images
Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse might have apologised for his explosive comments towards Stephen Milne, but the way he blatantly denied the outburst in his post match press conference questions his integrity as a coach.
The fact that an AFL coach is making personal sledges towards opposition players is bad enough, but to then publicly rebuff the allegations, Malthouse has not only brought the game, but also the Collingwood Football Club into disrepute.
As he went into hiding over the weekend, St Kilda demanded the truth come out. An enraged Stephen Milne had clearly been vilified by Malthouse, whose verbal tirade included labelling Milne a ‘f@#king rapist’
Malthouse left a mess he could have easily cleaned up directly after the game, but instead chose not to.
The pictures from the coverage clearly showed the words coming out of Malthouse’s mouth, but instead of admitting his error of judgement or taking the opportunity to defuse the issue, Malthouse vehemently denied any wrong doing.
As a result, the football public and media wanted answers, and in chasing them on Saturday, key club stakeholders were left in a vulnerable position. Magpies President Eddie McGuire had egg on his face as his story contradicted Mick’s, while captain Nick Maxwell was put in the unenviable position of having to defend his coach on moral grounds.
If anything else, the explosive quarter time scuffle, has also highlighted sledging is as rife as ever in the AFL.
For the most part, it has managed to stay on the field, but when the cameras are rolling, it cant be forgotten anything that happens is open to discussion and judgement.
This is an important point, Milne has been portrayed as the victim, but if the vision also showed Milne’s remarks, would he be so forthcoming with the complaint?
After a day of tense negotiations on Sunday, the Magpies sent through the apology to St Kila with a catch. In return, Collingwood wanted Milne to accept he provoked Friday night’s ugly incident by calling Malthouse ‘an old c@#t’ and wrongly accusing assistant coach Paul Licuria of being ‘homosexual’.
It feels to me like the Collngwood hierarchy almost bullied St Kilda into accepting the apology, in a bid to broker peace before the Saints lodged a formal written complaint in the hope they might then refrain. St Kilda has accepted the apology and decided against a formal complaint, but the AFL must still decide if it will conduct its own investigation into the matter.
Either way, if you think about it, Collingwood actually has a point. I’m not for a second condoning the Malthouse spray, but you have to admit, Milne has managed to escape scrutiny because his comments weren’t captured on the broadcast.
Of course St Kilda would have been reluctant to drag Milne through an AFL investigation that stems from an alleged sexual assault claim back in 2004.
Mick Malthouse said in part: “It was only after the match that I reflected fully on the events and my actions at quarter time.”
“I apologise to Stephen Milne for comments I made in the heat of the moment, which were wrong and I retract them. I accept that after 27 years as a coach I should know better than to respond to incidents like this.”
Better late than never yes, but how can we ever take Mick Malthouse seriously again?
He made himself and the Collingwood Football Club look stupid by not having the foresight to answer the question put before him after the match honestly.
I know AFL clubs and players often play mind games with each other and the media, however this is much more serious than team selection. At one stage Milne and his management were considering taking legal action for defamation!
The passion and emotion AFL evokes is on display every weekend, that’s why we love the game so much. Its unfortunate this issue has taken the limelight off another intriguing and bruising round of action, let alone overshadowing a potentially season ending hamstring injury to Nick Riewoldt!
But at the same time, who isn’t looking forward to round 16 when the two teams meet again?
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