Lion-hearted Mitch rues Ratten demise
FORMER Blue Mitch Robinson says the 2012 sacking of Brett Ratten “ruined” Carlton.
Ratten was replaced by premiership coach Mick Malthouse, a move that had Robinson hating football for the next two years.
Robinson was delisted by the Blues at the end of the tumultuous 2014 season.
Tonight he plays his 200th game — and his 100th game for the Lions — and has been recognised as the poster boy for second-chance players.
Conceding the Blues didn’t get the “best of Mitch Robbo”, he said Ratten’s sacking was the start of the end for him at the club.
“I wish I could go back in time and understand how good ‘Ratts’ was,’’ Robinson told the Herald Sun.
“Him being cut by the club ruined the Carlton footy club at the time and you can write that as much as you like. He was so good to us. He probably could’ve delegated a little bit more, but his footy brain was one of the smartest I’ve seen from any coach.
“The only thing he struggled with was the relationship side in terms of getting to know you and what makes you tick. He loved footy and always talked about footy.
“He was unfairly sacked. When he left, my love for the club deteriorated and when Malthouse came in I just hated playing.’’
The hard-nut played games under Malthouse 21 in 2013 and only 12 in 2014 as off-field issues and on-field ill discipline dragged Robinson to a career low.
He said he rejected a twoyear contract offer from the Blues, who later withdrew the offer and delisted him.
He spoke to Adelaide and Richmond, before Lions chief executive Greg Swann and then Lions coach Justin Leppitsch gave him a lifeline.
“It’s tough to talk about Malthouse because when I talk about him, it’s always negative,’’ Robinson said.
“For a boss, for someone who looks after you as a coach, there was no positivity from the get-go.
“One of our first meetings didn’t go well. The fight at the Big Day out just happened in January and I’m pretty sure he broke his finger when he slammed his hand on the table when he was spraying me on the Monday afterwards. I don’t think the respect went either way at the time. You had to respect him for his runs on the board and what he had done at Collingwood, but I just hated going to the club for two years.
“Then when Eddie (Betts) left, I was done. I was asking to go with Eddie to Adelaide.’’
The talks with Adelaide were confronting. He said the Crows thought he was a “fullblown drug addict’’.
Robinson said he had a super relationship with Leppitsch — Robinson shared the best and fairest in the first season — and that current coach Chris Fagan was nextlevel special.
“I call him dad,” he said. “Absolutely love the bloke.”