Malthouse stands by Murphy

Carlton captain Marc Murphy. Source: Getty Images

Dylan Buckley, named for his senior debut, in action during Carlton training at Visy Park today. Picture: Hamish Blair Source: Herald Sun

CARLTON coach Mick Malthouse today dismissed criticism of captain Marc Murphy's defensive work.

Malthouse said Murphy's workload has increased by 8 per cent since he took over as skipper from Chris Judd.

"His work ethic from last year has increased dramatically. He was one of our better players last week," the Blues coach said today.

North Melbourne premiership defender and Fox Footy expert David King this week criticised Murphy's lack of effort when the Blues were on the defensive against Collingwood last weekend. King said Murphy's actions directly cost the Blues goals in the narrow defeat.

"The relevance to me is what we see and how they go about it," Malthouse said.

"I don't wish to challenge what people say in the media, that's their job. We value things a little bit differently, there's a lot of judgments within the game that dictate whether a player is playing well or not. Whether he's work hard, whether he's not working hard, what his man's doing and what value he is to the team."

Malthouse addressed the players before a closed training session about best-and-fairest winner Heath Scotland's return following a club-imposed two-match suspension.

Ironically, Scotland left Collingwood when Malthouse was coach in a quest to play a midfield role, like the one against Geelong tomorrow night.

"He just keeps reinventing himself. Make no mistake about it, you can reinvent yourself every week, but if you haven't got a grim determination to be better and have a massive amount of pride in your performance, which he has, then reinventing yourself bares no fruit," the coach said.

"Contrary to popular belief, I didn't get rid of Heath. Heath wanted to go because he wanted to play in the midfield and I didn't think he was going to be replacing the midfield we had. So I gave him an opportunity, like I've given many young blokes, to change clubs because I've changed clubs.

"We've always stayed in contact because he had a very good friendship with several Collingwood players. We always had respect for one another and that singularly is one of the most important things in life."

Malthouse said it was fanciful to suggest he wasn't involved in the decision to delay Scotland's start to the AFL season.

"I came into the football club and we made that decision. Even before I coached my first game, I suspended a player," he said.

"Any time you leave a player out, it's tough. Dropping players this week is tough. But that comes with the responsibility of the job."

Heath Scotland warms up for his first senior match of the season. Picture: Hamish Blair Source: Herald Sun

Malthouse defended his decision to axe four players for tomorrow night's game at Etihad Stadium, emphasising it as part of his plan to test players and structures.

"We'll chase that every week if need be. It may well be horses for courses until we come across the right combination," he said.

"A few of them have been forced with players out injured and players who haven't performed on the day to expectations or don't really match up against the opponent.

"I guess, we're in a fortunate position in many respects that we can chop and change the side to accommodate the opposition.

"There will come a time when the team is good enough to handle every opposition and therefore we don't have to go into our VFL side to accommodate them. Right now, we need to do that to find the right combination. This is, I believe, giving everyone a chance to display their wares.

"I didn't come in here totally blind, but I also didn't come in with a fixed mind that some players can and can't play. You have to give every player the opportunity to show that I can play this role for you."

The Blues coach said Dylan Buckley, son of triple premiership centreman Jim Buckley, deserved his AFL debut.

"There's no handouts here. You don't hand out games. So he has earned the right," he said.

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