The Malthouse Dilemma

The press seems to be keen to get on the back of Collingwood and the coaching transition deal between Malthouse and Buckley but although I think its unlikely the deal will go smoothly, I think its a good idea in theory.

The idea at first seemed to be that Malthouse was coming up on his 10th year at the club, the same amount of time he had spent at West Coast. During his time at West Coast he had won two premierships but eventually got to the point where it seemed he had done all he could do. During his decade at Collingwood he had made the Grand Final twice but had not tasted ultimate success. I get the feeling that Eddie McGuire had sensed that Malthouse had made his run of it and it was time to look to the future and the answer was right there with their favourite son of recent times in Nathan Buckley. It was meant to be a win-win situation for all, with a chance for Malthouse to bow out gracefully while providing Buckley with a valuable apprenticeship. To Eddie it probably seemed like the perfect plan, and even though I am not a fan of his, I admired the idea even back then.

The spanner in the works came when Malthouse of course finally took the Magpies to premiership glory, one season before the transition was to happen and Buckley seemed to have faded out of the spotlight. This still seemed to me to be a great way for Mick to finish out his time at Collingwood and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Now, almost half way through the defence of their premiership they are sitting second on the ladder and look like they have a good chance of going back-to-back. Of course, everyone is now looking to Eddie, posing this hypothetical scenario and asking why you would get rid of a back-to-back premiership coach. Even their captain is certain Malthouse will stay on.

Now, this scenario may very well unfold, but I am still backing McGuire's original plan. Why would a club want to keep a champion coach on without a transition plan and risk him losing interest much like their biggest opposition for the 2011 cup. Why would Malthouse not want to go out on top either? Even if he wants to keep on coaching, I think there are plenty of other teams who would be interested to offer a fresh start.

I don't think Malthouse is the one losing out in this plan. The only person I can see not liking this plan is Nathan Buckley. He's the man who will inherit a team that will be on the verge of the inevitable re-building phase that is essential to a modern successful AFL team. If Collingwood start losing while they re-build, the fans won't see it so clearly and will be vying for his blood. Will Buckley be able to see out the re-building phase? Will he even stick around to see the transition plan even go ahead?

We shall see... but one thing is for sure, my interest in Collingwood will almost drop to zero once Malthouse departs the top job. I'd love Malthouse to go back-to-back, he's a great man and a hero of my youth.