Mick Malthouse is set to equal a 66-year-old record and he is not happy.
The Carlton supremo will be coaching his 714th VFL/AFL game, drawing level with Collingwood legend Jock McHale who coached the Magpies for an astounding 38 years. During that time McHale contested 16 grand finals for seven premierships.
Malthouse is in his 31st year as a senior coach, a run only broken with a year off in 2012.
He has coached four clubs – Western Bulldogs, West Coast, Collingwood and the Blues.
He took the Bulldogs to a preliminary final in 1985, West Coast to the 1992 and ’94 premierships from three grand finals and Collingwood to the 2010 flag having drawn with St Kilda the week before.
He also coached the Magpies in three losing grand finals – 2002, 2003 and 2011.
Some may argue that his record of three premierships is a little lean – the likes of Allan Jeans, David Parkin, Tom Hafey, Leigh Matthew and Ron Barassi each won four in considerably fewer seasons while Norm Smith guided Melbourne to six flags in 16 years.
But, that aside, Malthouse’s record is nonetheless a great one.
To have coached more games than any other man – which he will achieve against his previous club Collingwood next Friday night – is a mighty achievement.
When the cue is eventually placed in the rack he will be an automatic Hall of Fame inductee.
Yet in the week leading up to equalling the record the talk in the media has not been about the milestone but rather Malthouse’s immediate tenure at the Blues.
The opening three rounds of the season have produced losses.
Carlton’s Anzac Day encounter tomorrow against St Kilda at Wellington looms as a major challenge to Malthouse and his team.
Most pundits pre-season predicted the Saints to finish the year in the bottom three, with many having them as the wooden spooner.
On top of Carlton’s 0-3 start to the season have come comments earlier this week from club CEO Steven Trigg, who when asked whether Malthouse still had the energy to coach, said “Mick is 61 and it’s a long season. Mick needs to ask the question, ‘Does he still have the energy?’”
Hardly a ringing endorsement and again it comes in the week he will create league history.
Many in the media at present seemingly have an agenda and it appears that does not involve lauding Malthouse for his career record and longevity.
Malthouse has gone on record this week about the toll the current media speculation is having on his family, saying “I think there is an insensitivity and a little bit of disrespect … my wife is the same age as me and she has been in tears two or three times in the last week because of things that have been written.”
It is interesting to ponder why the media coverage has been as it has in the last fortnight.
Could it be the fact that throughout his three-decade coaching career Malthouse has been a particularly prickly, and at times, abrasive and rude customer?
As a commentator with the national broadcaster in Perth during Malthouse’s decade-long tenure with the Eagles I had the opportunity to view him close-up and witnessed many a stoush with the football media.
His behaviour and media interaction last season was bad enough to lead the Carlton administration to offer a rebuke and called upon him to tone it down as it was not casting the club in a good light.
His aggressive nature over the journey has rubbed many a journalist up the wrong way and in the end everyone is human.
At present there are two stories running in parallel – the coaching record and the club’s season record.
Given the choice it appears many scribes are opting for the latter, and dare I say it, those members of the fourth estate who have chosen to do so are no doubt enjoying it.
Injuries and suspensions aside, before the season is out membership of the AFL’s 400-game club will double, with Dustin Fletcher and Brent Harvey joining Kevin Bartlett and record-holder Michael Tuck (426) in a very select group.
Both will be lauded and many column centimetres will be dedicated to their journey and the rarity of their achievement.
Fletcher, at 39 years of age and in a record-breaking 23rd year in the AFL, started the season on 393 games.
Already he has been effectively rested once this season.
When he didn’t suit up for the second round his coach James Hird said that had it been a final he would have played, but it was decided to give him another week.
In all likelihood the same will happen several more times during the season – not surprisingly given he will turn 40 in a fortnight!
But one wonders whether the week leading in to his milestone game the focus will be more on how he may have potentially ‘limped’ there this year.
I doubt it will and I don’t think it should be either.
Both he and Harvey will achieve an exceptionally rare feat.
For Malthouse his record will not be a rare one but a unique one – a one-off, all-time leading performance.
And yet, at present the focus is not on the journey and the significance of the feat but the trials of the past few weeks.
Could it simply be a case of Mick reaping what he has sown for those in the media who have long memories?
Gecko
Guest
Mick has, in some ways, been good for the media. TV stations look forward to his media interviews because they tend to be more interesting than, for example, a Mark Thomson interview. Some might have a personal grudge but the media in general will be sad when he no longer gives media conferences. I don't think Mick erred by continuing to coach after 2012. He'd coached a premiership and a GF appearance in 2010-2011 so he wasn't sailing badly. He just erred by choosing to coach Carlton. They had arguably the smallest pool of up and coming talent in the whole AFL (and that hasn't changed in 2015).
Lt. Colombo
Guest
Get rid of that horse race, cruel sport that should be banned.
Lt. Colombo
Guest
Just win and all will be good.
joe b
Guest
I think Mick was a bit peeved at how he was white-anted by Eddie and Buckley and forced to finish his career whilst the team he built were still in their prime. This gave him the fire to have another crack at creating a top team, but carlton don't have the same resources as collingwood and perhaps now his age is slowing him down. Perhaps if Mick coached another season, or even two, at collingwood he would have been more receptive to retirement. . .
Jack
Guest
Any other coach would cope it why should malthouse be special or exempt? His got a very very average game plan that's other coaches are pulling apart . Blues need a new coach
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Yeah, I find it hard to find much sympathy for Malthouse - the media is what it is and you need to live with it. If you don't like it, get out of the game. In my view the senior coach's role these days is less around the technically/historical coaching, and more about man-management (both the assistant coaching staff and players) and being a club figurehead/spokesperson. If you're not prepared to play those roles then you should try your hand at something else. Nobody, not coaches, not politicians, not celebrities, I mean NOBODY - ever wins the battle with the media. The minute someone in the public eye complains about the scrutiny/attention/etc - get out now!
Don Freo
Guest
I don't think they should either...even if someone like Johnny Worsfold indicates interest. (Of course, he would never jump in Mick's grave anyway). I don't think age is a factor. Some of the best mirror images I have seen are Mick's age! Mick must, however, lighten up. I think he will because once the record is out of the way, I think he will settle, in his own mind, his decision to retire at the end of the season and he can begin rebuilding without pressure...maybe in tandem with an anointed successor.
Aransan
Guest
Don, you often have good comments coming from an unusual angle. My main point is that it won't make any sense to sack Mick during this season and the noises to do so have been getting louder, especially from some Carlton supporters who are living in dreamland.
Damo
Guest
Mick has always been a biter - throw the bait out and he'll strike it hard and fast. It just appears that some (not all) journos now do it deliberately and at every opportunity so they have a story to write. To me both sides are to blame. Mick needs to relax a bit, journos need to ask proper questions and be....well.....journalists.
sheek
Roar Guru
Glenn, One of the toughest things in life is knowing when to call "time" on something. Whether it's your lifelong career, or dead-end job, or relationship, or car, or house, or shares, or when to hold your cards & when to fold them, or whatever. But we all try to push for just a bit more. Usually, it's about more money, or not having to make a decision, but it can be a host of other things. Hindsight is a wonderful thing & I think Malthouse should have stayed retired in 2012. But it is now to between him & the Carlton Football Club. That's the best I can offer!
Don Freo
Guest
The media might well do that, Aransan, but Mick has cultivated the media with his philosopher's songs. (The Earth is slow...) to create a mystique of guru. It has been his career party trick. (Some might notice Brad Sewell trying to do it in special comments on the ABC and failing dismally.) When one manipulates a false identity, he need not be surprised when that charade fails. The masquerade becomes a parody. It is here that he has reaped what he has sown. His career in worthy of respect but, if he treats people like he does, he ought not to be surprised when some are pleased to see it coming back to him. Mick needs to be more respectful.
Aransan
Guest
Glenn, it seems to me that the media is coming more and more to be making the news. The sacking of Julia Gillard was led by a media pack assisted by Kevin Rudd. There was an attempt by the media to have Tony Abbott sacked with minimal backgrounding against him from elements within his own party. Now we have the media seeming to lead the charge to have Malthouse sacked in the very short term. Sacking a coach becomes popular with many fans when a team isn't doing well, and the coach is a handy scapegoat for an administration who are anxious to avoid any scrutiny of their own actions leading to the team's poor performance. Carlton made a big mistake in the last few years in thinking they had a better list that they had. This led to them sacking Ratten because they thought he should have been doing more with their list, a mistake in appointing Malthouse because they thought they were close to a premiership window and a mistake by Malthouse in accepting the coaching position. Prime Ministers are entitled to respect because of their position, Malthouse is entitled to respect because of a working lifetime of achievements. Sacking him now doesn't make any sense, to start with there is no obvious candidate to replace him and who of any quality would want to go to Carlton given their treatment of coaches if Malthouse was sacked in addition to Ratten. Malthouse may or may not be reappointed in 2016, that decision can be left until after the season has finished. He is more than capable of being a development coach and I am sure he can do that very well for the remainder of the season. When I hear there are players who won't play for a particular coach I think those players should be moved on, but honestly who would want to recruit such players?