1999.
Collingwood is based at Victoria Park.
It has 32,358 members.
It won four games, and its second wooden spoon.
2011.
Collingwood is based at Olympic Park, in the heart of Melbourne’s sports and entertainment precinct.
It has 71,271 members.
It won 22 games, and was featuring in its fifth Grand Final in the space of a decade.
That, right there, is the sum of the Malthouse makeover.
Collingwood’s struggles during the late 1990s have been well documented. It marked an enormous challenge for any new coach, let alone one who had enjoyed ten straight years of finals football, as Michael Malthouse had with West Coast during the same decade.
Fortunately for the Magpies, Malthouse opted to make the move to Victoria Park at the end of 1999. It was the fifth VFL/ AFL club he had been involved at, and his third as a coach. This was a man who knew how footballers operated.
The team flew out of the blocks, winning the first five games of the 2000 season. They then lost nine games in as many weeks, but the foundations had been laid.
Two years later, they fell nine points short of a premiership. And it wasn’t just any opposition they faced that September afternoon. It was the all-conquering Brisbane Lions, who had won the previous year and were hell-bent on steamrolling their way through all and sundry.
But that 2002 team Malthouse had moulded together had a unity its opponents could only admire. That it had won its first final against Port Adelaide without its champion captain Nathan Buckley further proved its strength as a unit.
Arguably the most enduring image from that afternoon was that of Malthouse in tears, with his arms around his dual best-and-fairest winner Paul Licuria. It was a performance and a season that marked Malthouse as one of the great coaches, just three years after he had taken over a club languishing at the foot of the ladder.
Twelve months on, at the same venue, against the same opponents, the result was in stark contrast to that of 2002. The Lions belted the Magpies in every facet, storming to a 50-point win. It was time for a reset.
Malthouse’s Magpies spent the next two years moored at the foot of the ladder, as injures and regeneration took their toll.
Bolstered by new blood and a fresh mindset, Malthouse began to drive his side back up the table.
As one generation began to fade, another was building into a force to be reckoned with.
Licuria, Clement, Buckley, Burns and Wakelin all gradually left the scene. In their place came Thomas, Pendlebury, Cloke, Lumumba and Shaw. The guard was changing.
The eras crossed over in 2007, when a mix of old and young took Collingwood within a kick of the Grand Final. It was a charge fuelled by Malthouse’s use of the interchange bench, rotating players like never before. It would revolutionise the way the game was played and coached for years to come.
Finally, after four years of finals experience, the stars aligned in 2010. Malthouse’s Magpies, bolstered by off-season recruits Jolly and Ball and sparked by a dash of youth in the form of Sidebottom, Beams and Blair, reached their Holy Grail.
A barnstorming season culminated in two of the most dramatic weeks in football history, when Collingwood and St Kilda played just the third Grand Final draw in VFL/ AFL history. When they met again seven days later, it was Collingwood that recovered best, winning by 56-points.
The triumph enshrined Malthouse’s legacy as one of Collingwood’s greatest coaches. He is one of just five men to have led the club to premiership glory.
Crucially, it was Malthouse who helped keep his players and club on track in the hours after the draw.
With his side left physically and emotionally drained, the coach pumped hope back into his players’ hearts at the post-match function.
“If you treat this as a loss, it will be. If you treat this as an opportunity, it will be. If we treat this the way we have rebounded all year, then we will go in with utmost confidence.”
Many – including President Eddie McGuire – have since cited the role played by Malthouse’s words of encouragement in the hours after the match.
The year that followed was to be Malthouse’s last at the helm.
Midway through 2009, the club, Malthouse and Buckley had agreed to a five-year deal that would see the former remain in position for another two seasons before handing over to Buckley in 2012, with Malthouse serving as his mentor.
Ultimately, Malthouse opted to depart at the end of 2011. It was an emotional conclusion to a year that saw the Magpies win 22 of 25 games, only to fall away in the final quarter of the Grand Final against Geelong.
Malthouse would later spend time at Carlton, but his Collingwood legacy would remain ever lasting.
He coached Collingwood in 286 games, recording a winning percentage of 57.34. He guided the club to seven finals series, including its first in eight years. He was at the helm for five Grand Finals, one drawn and one victorious. And now, in 2017, he is officially recognised as a Life Member of the Collingwood Football Club.
Congratulations, Mick Malthouse.
Michael Malthouse
Collingwood coach 2000-2011
Games: 286
Wins: 163
Losses: 121
Draws: 2
Winning percentage: 57.34%
Finals: 22
Grand Finals: 5
