Mick Malthouse has spent four decades at the top level of the game, and for all that time, his family has ridden the roller-coaster of a football existence with him. Widely recognised as a successful coach, an inspirational leader and a tough and uncompromising competitor, Mick's four premierships, fifty AFL finals coached and the hundreds of players he has groomed into elite footballers and good men are all testament to his talents, skills and unparalleled football knowledge. But Mick will be the first to tell you he hasn't achieved all that he has alone. Through injury and rehabilitation, during every tough season and all of football's highs and lows, Mick's wife, Nanette, and his four children have celebrated the wins, suffered the losses and borne the brunt of public scrutiny. Malthouse: A Football Life is the first AFL biography written by a daughter about her father. Journalist Christi Malthouse has crafted an honest and insightful portrait of one boy's dream to play elite football, an athlete's determination to succeed, an AFL coach's struggles and triumphs, and the husband, father and grandfather for whom family is all. Christi's perspective as journalist and eldest daughter takes us beyond the newspaper headlines and behind the public mask to the man within. For while Mick Malthouse has lived a life of hardship, courage, hard work and glory, for his family, it has always been thus: a football life.
