West Coast great Mick Malthouse declares Richmond’s behaviour will cost them the flag, slams their arrogance

Three-time premiership coach and Richmond premiership player Mick Malthouse has slammed the Tigers over their behaviour this season, declaring they have become “too big for their own boots” in the wake of their latest COVID breach.

The Tigers are reeling after being fined $100,000 due to Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones breaching the league rules by catching an Uber into Surfers Paradise and attending a strip club.

The pair were later involved in a fight which required police attendance resulting in a 10-game suspension and being banished from Queensland.

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Richmond had experienced a COVID breach after Trent Cotchin’s wife Brooke attended a Queensland day spa.

The Cotchin family threatened to leave the hub after that controversy.

The Tigers have also had the groping dramas during their team song, and coach Damien Hardwick lashing out at Sydney after a low scoring game and former Melbourne star David Schwarz following criticism of Tom Lynch.

Malthouse said too many issues were occurring and it would cost the Tigers the chance to win the flag.

“It’s almost like they’ve become too big for their own boots and this is payback time,” Malthouse told ABC Radio.

“It’s big, big payback.

“We saw what happened with (Nathan) Buckley in Western Australia when he went out and played tennis and his side went off the boil for two or three weeks because sub-consciously, the players are going hang on aren’t we supposed to all be in this together?

“I reckon the consequences of what’s happened in the last few weeks at Richmond, that’s not going to bode well for them winning a premiership. They’re going to just cling on if at all to make the top four.”

Malthouse said Richmond’s behaviour on the field were also alarming.

While the Tigers have consistently shown that they play their best football when relaxed and happy, Malthouse said they were now disrespecting opposition teams by laughing on the field.

He said Hardwick’s three-quarter-time spray which sparked Richmond’s win over Fremantle showed that players couldn’t play their best when laughing.

“I think that’s disrespectful to the opposition for a start,” he said.

“I think it sets a very, very poor tone on the ground. It may be something internal – let’s laugh off the fact I missed a shot at goal from 20m out.

“But if you’re going to do that, you do it all day.

“You don’t do it until the chips are down, all of a sudden Fremantle had a sniff and all of a sudden there’s panic in the coach’s box and there’s panic on the ground.

“Where’s the smiling? Where’s the laughing? There’s no consistency in that so straight away the alarm bells in my mind are ringing because you’re not being consistent at all.”