COLLINGWOOD may have spent the week under siege dealing with the Heath Shaw/Alan Didak controversy, but coach Mick Malthouse returned fire on Friday predicting a steely response from his team against St Kilda at the weekend.
The Pies have made front and back page headlines since the pair and Rhyce Shaw were disciplined by the club earlier in the week, which left Malthouse feeling the issue had been blown out of proportion in the media.
"I don’t think there’s much doubt about the fact that we’ve been galvanised because Collingwood supporters are generally galvanised in regard to the way they are perceived anyway," Malthouse said at the Lexus Centre on Friday.
“We’ve lined the pockets of a lot of proprietors of newsagencies and media tycoons in general. There’s very few times I've been able to flick through the paper and see eight to 10 pages dedicated to a couple or three players; I don’t think the end of World War II copped as much.
“Under those circumstances of course we're galvanized because no one wants to see Collingwood succeed except Collingwood people so, if they think there's a thorn in your side, they’ll enjoy it.
"That's fine; so did I when I was coaching Footscray and playing for Richmond and coaching West Coast.
"That’s the way it is and it's the same with other clubs throughout the world; there’s love and hate. Some [clubs] are very passive and some don’t get that and I wonder what they feel like in a general environment compared to how people at Collingwood feel.
"It's only how big it's been in the press. Let's not kid ourselves. I've seen [less coverage devoted to] players being squirted with capsicum spray, or players from another club get kicked out for causing problems with rugby players."
Malthouse was in no mood to rehash the events of last Sunday when the vehicle Heath Shaw and Alan Didak were travelling in collided with a parked car, with Shaw later charged with drink-driving.
He certainly wasn't about to entertain questions about how he felt when he discovered he'd been lied to by Shaw and Didak about exactly what happened the incident.
"I think it's irrelevant how I am. It’s not about me, it’s about the football club; who cares?" he said.
"This has been very well covered by our CEO (Gary Pert) and our football operations manager (Geoff Walsh). This press conference is about St Kilda and Collingwood on Saturday night. If you weren’t there on Tuesday I suggest you get a tape and have a look at it and you’ll see what they had to say about it.
"It's been a difficult week but I reckon the boys have handled it pretty well. It's just one of those weeks that happens in football.
"It's only how big it is outside [the club]. Inside it has been one that we would prefer behind us, which it is, and we move forward."
