In a special summer series, Richmond Media is counting down the top 25 Tiger recruits from rival AFL clubs throughout the past five decades. Today, coming in at No. 14, is Mick Malthouse.
Mick Malthouse was seeking better opportunities at the game’s highest level, when he crossed from St Kilda (53 games there in five years) to Richmond during the 1976 season, just before the then June 30 clearance deadline.
With his tough, determined, no-nonsense style of play, Malthouse quickly established himself as a permanent member of the Tigers line-up.
Although he was initially used in a few different on-field roles at Richmond, it was as a back pocket, responsible for minding the opposition’s resting rovers, that Malthouse made his mark with the Tigers.
He thrived on the discipline required to sacrifice personal gain for the overall betterment of the team.
His primary focus was negating the influence of dangerous small opponents, and it’s something he managed to do extremely well.
Dale Weightman, a 1980 premiership teammate of Malthouse, outlined the uncompromising back pocket’s value to the Tigers . . .
“He was a real hard nut out on the field,” Weightman said.
“Me, being a rover, every now and then I got a run on the ball, when KB (Kevin Bartlett) went off it. With Mick (in the back pocket), you knew that you could run the opposition down because they never wanted to go rest in the forward pocket because he used to belt the crap out of them . . . he’d give it to them the whole time.
“He just gave everything he had . . . he was a ripper.
“You could tell that he was going to go into coaching because he was the leader of our back half and got it all organised so well.”
Despite Malthouse’s penchant for the defensive aspects of the game, he also had the ability to win his fair share of the ball himself. He was a strong mark for his size and used the ball effectively.
In 1978, Malthouse, not surprisingly, won the Tigers’ Most Determined Player award.
Two years later, he was a key member of the Richmond side that flogged Collingwood by 81 points to capture the 1980 premiership.
It was a star-studded Tigers line-up, containing the likes of Weightman, Kevin Bartlett, Francis Bourke, Geoff Raines, Bryan Wood, Barry Rowlings, Robert Wiley, Mark Lee, Michael Roach and David Cloke.
Malthouse did not possess the sheer talent of those players, but he more than compensated through other attributes that made him just as valuable to the team.
The dislocated shoulder, which forced him to miss the Tigers’ 1982 Grand Final loss to Carlton, bore testimony to that.
To this day, Richmond people are convinced had Malthouse he been fit to play, the Tigers would have won that premiership, such was his importance within the side.
Malthouse played a total of 121 games for Richmond from 1976-83.
