Underfire Mick Malthouse ‘not going to walk away’
Beleaguered Carlton coach Mick Malthouse won’t quit, saying he still feels supported by his AFL club’s hierarchy.
Out of contract at season’s end, Malthouse’s future is a hot topic with the Blues in last spot with just one win.
“As far as I’m concerned, I coach until I don’t coach and it won’t be my decision just to walk out,” Malthouse told Adelaide radio station 5AA on Tuesday night.
“You fight it out … I’m not just going to walk away.”
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Malthouse said even if Carlton opted for a different coach next year, he would want to fulfil his contract which expires October 31.
“I’m not expecting an answer from that for some time,” he said.
“If they choose to make the answer this week or next week or week 13 or whatever the case may be, that is their perogative.
“I don’t go on my knees and I don’t knock on doors to find out whether I’m coaching or not next year.”
Malthouse said he had never felt any hostility from Blues chief executive Steven Trigg or the club’s board.
“It’s a known fact that football clubs sometimes fragment,” he said.
“Right now, I feel as if I have got the support of Steven and the board to go until the end of the year.
“If that changes, well, it changes.”
Malthouse said quitting “has ever entered my being”, adding he had three factors at play.
“If the board take it into their hands, well you can’t do much about it, you are a servant of the football club,” he said.
“Two, is if you think the players don’t want you there … then you have got an obligation.
“Three is, if you … wake up in the morning and you don’t want to be there.
“I want to get to the club. I want to work hard.”
-AAP