Mick Malthouse has defended his controversial top 25 list.
AFL legend Mick Malthouse caused a massive stir this week in a Herald Sun column highlighting the sport’s top 25 players of the past 50 years.
“He-Man” Leigh Matthews sat firmly in the number one spot after all nine guru’s lists had been marked, with legends Wayne Carey and Tony Lockett pulling in firmly for the second and third spots.
Gary Ablett Sr. and Gary Ablett Jr. both made the list, coming in at fourth and sixth respectively, but it was no thanks to Malthouse they made it into the prestigious line-up.
Malthouse was scolded by experts for glaring omissions in his top 25, dropping out both of the Ablett’s and overlooking Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley — the man who overtook his coaching position in 2015.
1/2. If anyone else left out the Abletts from the top25 list, they’d be accused of knowing zilch about footy. A good exercise..
— Mark Robinson (@Robbo_heraldsun) March 12, 2017
2/2 hurt by one person’s want to pick favourites. Whole exercise now a waste of time quite frankly
— Mark Robinson (@Robbo_heraldsun) March 12, 2017
Nathan Buckley didn’t make it to Mick’s top 25.Source:News Corp Australia
Malthouse responded to his controversial list, simply saying Buckley and the Ablett’s weren’t good enough.
“It’s my 25, it’s a matter of opinion and the restriction is 25 so if we went to 29 you’d probably find that the Ablett’s, Jimmy Clement and Nathan Buckley would be in the 29,” he said on SEN Radio Monday.
“It wasn’t a matter of leaving them out, it was a matter of picking 25 and thinking I’m quite comfortable with that 25.
“I picked 25 players in front of them and I’ll stand by that.”
Malthouse admitted he fell back on his experience as a coach to judge his list, suggesting “spectacular” showmanship of greats didn’t win games.
“Having coached against these players, or coached with these players, you have a different opinion of all the spectacular stuff,” he said. “You also get swayed by performances against sides that you’ve coached.
“The spectacular stuff is great for the crowd but doesn’t always win games of footy. Sometimes we are seduced by outside opinion.”
Malthouse omitted Essendon legend James Hird from the pack, saying his frequent losses to James Clement — who also missed out on his list. The 63-year-old’s snub to Nathan Buckley raised concerns there was bad blood between himself and the current Pies coach, but Malthouse assured there was no beef between the two.
“I don’t have a feud with Nathan whatsoever. I just thought there were 25 players in front of him,” he said before confessing he never saw the former legend as a threat while coaching the West Coast Eagles.
“At West Coast we never feared Nathan because he got a lot of his kicks behind the centre.”
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