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Collingwood is at war with itself following its thumping at the hands of Carlton. It took one loss for the AFL world to realise something that was long thought to be true: the succession plan was as popular as the Kirribilli Agreement.
Collingwood’s loss on the weekend had people talking not about the loss itself rather the manner in which they lost to Carlton.
For a team that we have come to know as ruthless and dominating, they were a shell of their former self, fumbling their way through the game.
But what has really come out of the Magpies this week is the level of poison that exists between the three key players in the succession plan.
The eruption started in this week’s Sunday Herald Sun, where President Eddie McGuire said Malthouse’s 2011 game plan had gone from “revolutionary to middle class”.
McGuire seems to have forgotten how 2011 panned out for the Magpies.
Collingwood lost to just one team last year and until the 10th minute mark of the final quarter of the grand final; they were in the hunt for back-to-back premierships.
The article reeked of ungratefulness from a man who would never have had the success he has enjoyed without the super coach that is Malthouse.
Later that day on Channel Seven’s AFL Gameday, Malthouse, in his role as a commentator, gave an analysis of Collingwood.
Malthouse is a commentator now and Collingwood should not expect any favours from him in the media as he is expected to analyse without fear or favour.
Yet when listening to him, you sense that Malthouse is still frustrated with how his time at Collingwood finished.
Malthouse obviously feels that he was turned out unfairly and there was undue pressure on him to agree to the switchover (this is despite the fact he signed the deal).
While stressing he is just an outsider, you feel there is pent up frustration in Malthouse because he wasn’t allowed to finish the job he started in 2005 when they bottomed out.
Not to be outdone, McGuire on Monday also had the gall to say that when Buckley was playing, he carried the Collingwood team.
That may be true, but Buckley didn’t carry a team to the 2010 AFL premiership, rather it was a more balanced team all of which was a Malthouse creation.
Again, at a time when McGuire as a statesman of the game needed to use silence, his ego and need for ratings on his radio show got the better of him.
It was again a sign of ungratefulness from McGuire who seems bent on turning the Malthouse era into just a fleeting time in Collingwood’s history.
In many ways, Nikita Khrushchev could be proud of how McGuire is dismantling the cult of personality that is the Malthouse era.
Collingwood, once ruthless and united, seems divided by the spoils of its success as greed, ego and passion take hold of the key players.
It is cannibalism is worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy.
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