Michael ‘Mick’ Malthouse

Michael ‘Mick’ Malthouse is an AFL coaching legend, the former coach of four Australian Football League (AFL) clubs including Footscray, West Coast Eagles, Collingwood and Carlton.

After 30 years of coaching at the highest level, Mick coached his 718th game in 2015 to achieve the record of most VFL/AFL games coached – an inspirational achievement celebrated by the AFL and the wider football community. In 2015 he retired from coaching at the AFL level, his last appointment being the Carlton Football Club.

Mick is an inspiring, entertaining speaker who applies his wealth of experience on the playing field to motivational presentations and leadership workshops, achieving results in the business arena to equal the performances he coaxed from his players. After four decades of involvement in AFL, both as a player and coach, he has hundreds of stories and experiences to captivate and motivate any audience.

As well as his speaking engagements, Mick writes for The West Australian and works with ABC Radio.  In 2019, Mick was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame.

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Mick began his football career at Wendouree West, then North Ballarat and in 1972 was taken by St Kilda, playing gthree finals in his debut season. He played 53 games for the Saints before being told by then-coach Allan Jeans that he would struggle to get a game in the senior side due to an abundance of similar-sized players. He left for Richmond half way through the 1976 season and never looked back.

The 1980 Richmond Premiership win over Collingwood was one of six finals Mick Malthouse played for the Tigers in 121 senior games (including the 1980 Premiership).

After retiring in 1983 due to injury, Mick became Footscray’s senior coach from 1984 to 1989 (135 games) where he became known for his tough stance on many players.

From 1990 until 1999, Mick was senior coach for the West Coast Eagles, and the most successful coach in their history. His coaching records including the most grand final appearances (1991, 1992, 1994), most premierships (1992 and 1994, both against Geelong), most games coached (243) and won (146) as well as the highest win ratio. The 1992 Grand Final win was the first AFL premiership won by a team from outside Victoria and was the West Coast Eagles first ever senior premiership.

Mick was recruited to the Magpies in 2000 by Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, going on to coach Collingwood to the finals in six out of his ten seasons, including grand final appearances in 2002, 2003, 2010 (twice) and 2011. In 2010, after the first drawn AFL/VFL grand final since 1977, Collingwood claimed premiership success with a resounding 56-point win over St Kilda in the replay. This was the club’s biggest ever win in a grand final and the first since 1990.

Mick stepped down as senior coach of Collingwood in late 2011, handing over to Nathan Buckley. After making the tough decision to retire at the end of 2011, he returned to the game as the senior coach of Carlton Football Club, a role he held from 2013 until 2015, before finally retiring from coaching at AFL level.

His many awards include: 1992, 1994 & 2010 Jock McHale Medal, 2008 & 2010 Australian Coach – International Rules Series, and 2010 AFL Coaches Association Coach of the Year. In 2011 he was inducted into the West Coast Eagles Club Hall of Fame and in 2016 he was recognised as an AFLCA coaching legend. Mick is a life member of the West Coast Eagles, Richmond and Collingwood football clubs.

Mick Malthouse co-authored The Ox Is Slow But The Earth Is Patient, with David Buttifant (2011) and was the subject of Malthouse, A Football Life, authored by Christi Malthouse (2012). He has been a sports commentator for Network 7, SEN Radio and ABC radio, a sports writer for the Sunday Herald Sun and in 2016 was the Head Coach of Fox Footy’s reality television program, The Recruit.

More than most, Mick Malthouse understands the importance of resilience, leadership and team building: stay positive, work smart and work hard, and others will follow.