Mick Malthouse's communication with the media has been severely criticised for many years.
Didn't he win a premiership last year?

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Bawditawaba

Here are the quotes from the article.

"If you listed three things we had to do better as a team, one would be defensively, one would be mentally become stronger, and one would be how much communication we can improve,"

"There's no doubt (we have to get harder) and that's been put into the programs."

"And I can feel a harder edge, I can hear it on the field, the acceptance".

"It's quite confronting, but it's the truth. The peer reviews and the things we've seen in Ray McLean's program and the footy program is direct and done in a respectful manner"
.
"It has been a harder-edged pre-season and that's to grow the group and let them know what they have to deal with it."

"You do challenge the group mentally,"

"We tried to create a more competitive environment from the first day we got back into pre-season."

"The issue of 'toughening up' and the mental side ... I think no doubt we've taken steps forward this pre-season, but even in the last six weeks of 2010 we took big steps towards the back end of the season."

What eactly is your problem with any other these quotes Josh. What has he said that has made it a horrendous (your words) interview. I have read it 15 times and can't see what the problem is. Perhaps you can give some specifics.

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

He says nothing wrong does he Cazzesman

Glad to see the issue of toughness being addressed because last year in some games it was embarrasing.

He consistently sounds hesitant when he speaks to the media- he displays an endless array of second guesses and qualifications. This denotes an abundant lack of self belief and authority- two vital elements of any senior coach in the premier sport in our country. Malthouse treats the media with contempt, but you cannot deny the fact that he is one of the predominant authority figures in our game and this is reflected every time he speaks.

From the article and specifically reading this very quote that you picked out

how does that even make sense? (and he picked the worst possible sentence to communicate poorly- ie: one about the necessity to improve communication)


??
Granted I may come across as overly harsh critiquing the coach from a HS piece, but fundamentally (and more then ever now) coaches who are able to properly communicate to both the media and the players are the ones who win flags. Listen to Ross Lyon convey so effortlessly all the nuances of the modern game in interviews, hell, even listen to Brad Scott-- Ratten is miles behind them.

If the team keeps improving and wins a flag i dont really care how he speaks to the media. Malthouse has made a fool of himself plenty of times with his attempts to divert the media's attention away from his team, the occasional dig at the umpires and sticking up for players that play poorly. Thompson has been all over the shop with the media and when addressing his clubs own members. Clarkson also gets it wrong occasionally. All have had success recently so i dont see Ratts getting a sentense a bit muddled being too big an issue.

We have to be tougher i am sure we all agree and i am sure we are all happy to here the coach say it.

Win games and i dont care if he burps between words.

The elephant in the room in this thread really is:

"Is Brett Ratten intelligent enough to be a successful senior coach?"

Seems to me like the job has gradually changed from one requiring footy smarts and a hard edge, to one requiring a mastery of more cerebral skills.

Never met him. But to me, he SOUNDS like he's lacking in that area. Now, he may not be. Some people keep their light well hidden under the bushel. But he sure sounds like it.

My premise on the need for intelligence may be wrong (it's just my own observation, but obviously I think I'm right) and, of course, despite not sounding like the smartest guy in the room he may actually be incredibly sharp.

But I think that's what people often question about Ratts: the underlying intellect, rather than the patterns of speech per se.

And Bomber Thompson is a literary giant

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

I guess you can only trust those that are rated highly and 1 of those is David Parkin. He has consistently stated Ratts is a very astute football person. As club29 has said, plenty of other successful, senior Coaches have come off poorly at various times in the media. Ratts quotes in this article may not be copy-book english expression, but in the end the jist of what he said is factual and music to the ears of all supporters.

Regards Cazzesman

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Ricky Gervais - “Everyone has the right to hold whatever beliefs they want. And everyone else has the right to find those beliefs f***ing ridiculous.”

I don't think Thompson particularly struggles to articulate his point of view.

Got that Cazzes,

But I wonder if the demands on coaches haven't ramped up a notch or two since Parko's time. Seems that they're expected to be able to deliver on the non footy-smarts side of things too, and be more well-rounded leaders and managers... a bit like soccer/football managers.

I hear 'football-smart' and astute football person, and I immediately think 'perfect assistant coach'. But the skills needed to run an entire coaching set-up, to develop the philosophy that the whole club will adhere to, to set the agenda and have a big-picture vision, to represent the club in its entirety, to genuinely lead the club internally and externally... bloody hell, that's a whole lot more than just footy-smarts.

And rightly or wrongly, I think that's what's expected of the senior coach now. These guys have to be comfortable when the agenda moves beyond just what happens onfield. Ratts seems like a genuine footy person, but I really get the impression that's just not enough anymore.

And no senior coach has the luxury to just worry about the onfield stuff. The 2IC and assistants do, but not the senior guy. And if you struggle with that, it can't do you any good. The absolute belief you need to engender in your players and staff is harder to create and sustain, because you're showing weakness. And it'd do your own confidence no good at all.

Parko is recogised as an outstanding off–field communicator and you do him an injustice by implying that he hasn't changed his thinking on coaching in 10 years. He was a trail–blazer as a coach and obviously didn't achieve that by being stuck in his ways.

I wonder if Parko still goes for 100 x 100's in the blazing January mid–afternoon sun?

Josh K, Malthouse is so good with the media.

Not

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Bawditawaba

Hard to when you say as much as nothing.

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"I will rejoice in their anguish, delight in their failure and revel in our success"

We are Carlton, @#$%&! the rest !!!!!!

While Ratten isn't the most quotable of coaches, if you watch him or listen to him when he speaks you can note how he's concentrating on not giving too much away about what he's thinking. Perhaps it's denoting a lack of self-esteem or a glut of paranoia, but it's certainly not suggesting a lack of intelligence.

Needs to get better at the way he communicates (or coping with the sometimes political nature of PR), that's for sure.

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