The 10 best wins of Mick Malthouse's coaching career - AFL.com.au

The 10 best wins of Mick Malthouse's coaching career

Peter Ryan  May 1, 2015 6:30 PM

Mick Malthouse has coached 406 wins in his 714 games at four clubs. He has proved a master coach, able to transfer the art of coaching from one club to the next. As he prepares to break the all-time games coached record on Friday night we select his 10 best wins (plus one for special mention) to demonstrate what made Malthouse a great coach. 

1. Round 4, Footscray 14.12 (96) v Hawthorn 7.13 (55), Western Oval, April 20, 1987 

Malthouse rates this as his favourite home and away victory and it's easy to see why. 

Footscray had lost the first three games, had a percentage of 41.1 percent and was taking on the powerful defending premiers Hawthorn who had a percentage of 169.43 percent. 

Brian Royal was moved to the middle and Footscray went on a tackling frenzy with the little known Angelo Petraglia making seven tackles to be one of his side's best. 

Sam Prenesti's words in The Age captured what would become hallmark of Malthouse's coaching: Few coaches seem to get the response and determination from their players for as long as Michael Malthouse did yesterday. 

After the game Malthouse gave an insight into his coaching philosophy.á

"When you're not in the same class you have to make a contest. The only way to do it is to run individuals off individuals," Malthouse said.

"We realised that blooding a few kids and with players down we had to work with what we had … it's no use going around with long faces. You can't afford to operate like losers."

2. Grand Final, West Coast Eagles 16.17 (113) v Geelong 12.13 (85), MCG, September 26, 1992

Having lost the previous year's Grand Final to Hawthorn after an arduous finals series, West Coast went into the 1992 Grand Final with a massive opportunity to make history.

According to legend, Malthouse told his players not to accept food or drink during the Grand Final parade in case it was poisoned. His meticulous preparation, research into the opposition and will to build a club turned the Eagles into a juggernaut and this day was the first time they received reward. 

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The 10 best wins of Mick Malthouse's coaching career - AFL.com.au