CARLTON coach Mick Malthouse has slammed the idea of joint coach press conferences, branding the proposal being pushed by the AFL Coaches Association and Fox Footy as "very immature".
The AFLCA and Fox Footy have brokered an in-principle agreement whereby the competing coaches at each 2015 game covered exclusively by the pay-TV channel would sit alongside each other in a joint post-match press conference.
Fox Footy has agreed to pay the AFLCA $500,000 if the joint press conferences go ahead, but the plan has yet to receive AFL approval.
And Malthouse was quick to denounce it when he spoke to AFL.com.au on Wednesday.
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"I'm totally and utterly against it," Malthouse said.
"We're a sideshow, coaches. People go to watch the players play, not coaches cuddle and whatever else they're going to do in a joint interview.
"You're not going to get the truth. You're going to be set up.
"Whatever we say about how even the competition is, someone is going to get flogged by 10-12 goals at some stage. You're going to be sitting next to a bloke who has just belted the hell out of you or maybe one of your players has been injured and maybe there's a contentious issue or a report.
"Coaches can't win in this. It would be only some journo who might pick the right moment to get some reaction.
"I think it's a very immature (idea) and strangely not really consistent with people thinking down the track."
AFLCA chief executive Mark Brayshaw told Footy Feed the "overwhelming majority" of coaches supported the agreement with Fox Footy.
"It would be a very lucrative sponsorship for us and we're navigating our way through the regulations," Brayshaw said.
"I think our coaches too often are portrayed as being intense, win-at-all-costs types and this would give them a chance to show that they're good sports.
"We've got a long way to go to land this marlin and yes we do have a slight division, but the overwhelming majority of our members are supportive."