INTERNATIONAL RULES:THE AUSTRALIA International Rules coach Mick Malthouse has criticised the negative local media coverage of this year's series, saying that it runs the risk of killing the game and that he has never seen such negativity in sports coverage.

Malthouse’s team won last Saturday’s first Test in Limerick, which was roundly criticised for lacking intensity.

“I have to say I’m a reluctant reader of newspapers in regard to sport unless it’s other than Australian Rules football,” said Malthouse who this year coached his club Collingwood to a first premiership in 20 years.

“So I’ve been bemused by reading here – just to get a gauge on how it’s taken – that there seems to be this misery that the game has lost its brutality.

“Yet, we bemoan that in 2006 things happened that were poor quality in a game between two countries with a long and interlinked history; there are so many people in Australia with Irish blood.”

He was referring to the disastrous episodes of violence and lapses in discipline that marked the second Test of the last series to have been played here, four years ago. These combined with other incidents of ill-discipline the previous year, 2005, to plunge the international series into crisis and to prompt the GAA into abandoning it for a year.

Malthouse took over for the 2008 series with the remit of restoring order and that year’s series passed off without incident.

Similarly, last Saturday was played in a sporting fashion, but Ireland played badly and were distinctly second-best for the first hour of the Test. Despite a late Irish comeback which reduced the deficit, the home side were roundly criticised for the poor quality of their performance, a reaction that has been mentioned in the Australian media.

The Australian coach said that the levels of negativity towards the game were endangering its future. “In everything I’ve read so far I haven’t come across a positive article about this game. If it’s going to die it won’t die because of the GAA, it won’t die because of the AFL. It’ll die because it doesn’t get the recognition from the journalists.”

Malthouse disagreed with the view that Ireland’s poor display had undermined the attractiveness of the first Test, pointing out that the match had been played in a good spirit and that, although the Australians had dominated for much of the game, the exciting conclusion had nicely set up the second Test and the outcome of the series.

“As far as true sportsmanship and the ability to show the way the games are being played, we showcased it on Saturday night and probably the only thing that stopped the Irish winning was time. Maybe we would have got the initiative back. Who knows? But we were just about ahead when the siren went.

“But I’ve never seen so much negativity in any sport. If that’s going to influence people coming here, they’re really unfortunately shooting the game down. I just wonder if the Irish had won, what sort of creative news spin would have been given? I think it’s a shame.”

Malthouse’s two-year appointment concludes this year. At this stage, with the international project restored to an even keel and Australia likely winners of this year’s series, it is hardly surprising that moves are afoot to extend the coach’s agreement, with The Age in Melbourne reporting AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou as saying that an approach to the coach was being “seriously considered”.

“We’ve had two-year agreements with Garry Lyon (who served two terms) and Kevin Sheedy and we did the same with Mick,” Demetriou told the paper.

“But the way Mick’s embraced the series, the way he’s gone about it and the fact he’s stepping down makes us think this is the sort of thing we could have someone doing on a much more continual basis.”