Malthouse not fazed by assistant issue

Mick Malthouse says losing an assistant coach to a rival club during a finals campaign is a minor issue and everyone should just move on.

Malthouse was coaching Collingwood in 2011 when his assistant Mark Neeld departed before the preliminary final to become coach of Melbourne. The Demons had missed the finals and were keen to get a head-start on preparations for 2012.

Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert says the AFL should prevent key club staff from making detailed presentations to rival teams during a finals campaign.

Malthouse, 58, has stepped down and his assistant Nathan Buckley has taken over at Collingwood.

Malthouse says any man can be replaced within a football club.

“If you’ve got the ship running right, it’s a minor blip,” the triple-premiership coach said on Thursday.

“If you do your job properly, you’ve got people within the organisation to step in.

“You don’t want to restrict anyone from taking over a senior job.

“I just think it’s something that happens. It won’t happen that often and clubs have been able to cope with it.

“I don’t see it being a negative.”

Malthouse, the second-longest serving coach in AFL history, said it was only natural that rival clubs would seek to hire staff from more successful teams.

“You get over it. If you’re that dependent on one person you’ve got real trouble,” the 664-game coaching veteran added.

Geelong, who beat Collingwood in last year’s grand final, also lost an assistant coach during September 2011.

Brenton Sanderson was appointed Adelaide mentor and watched the grand final from the stands.

Four-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews says it’s an occupational hazard for successful teams.

“I don’t think you can say to clubs `you can’t talk to people who are in premiership contention’,” Matthews said at Channel Seven’s season launch.

“It’s unrealistic to think that new clubs looking for a coach can’t talk to the obvious candidates at other clubs.

“And once you’re appointed senior coach, you can stay and do your assistant-coaching role, but it’s like any other job.

“Once you’ve taken a job elsewhere, your mind is elsewhere.

“I don’t see anything you can do to stop happening what has happened fairly regularly recently.

“It’s unfortunate that with your coaching staff, one or two might go before the end of the campaign.”

Richmond goalkicking great Matthew Richardson said it would be unsettling to lose an assistant coach.

“You’re one week away from winning the ultimate goal and you lose an important cog in your coaching department,” he said.

“Do they have (to introduce) a rule where you can’t sign up until after a grand final? It’s a tough one.”

Pert is drafting a discussion paper for the AFL and has received public support from Geelong chief executive Brian Cook.

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