{"id":811930,"date":"2026-07-20T09:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/811930\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T09:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T09:19:17","slug":"afl-legend-mick-malthouse-says-accused-home-invaders-were-a-bunch-of-cockatoos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/811930\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL legend Mick Malthouse says accused home invaders were \u2018a bunch of cockatoos\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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AFL legend Mick Malthouse says a group of intruders who tried to force their way into his home behaved like \u201ca bunch of cockatoos\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former Collingwood, Carlton and West Coast coach told Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court on Monday he couldn\u2019t believe how much noise the trio made as they tried to break into the East Melbourne property in September last year.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MickMick Malthouse leaves Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court after providing evidence on Monday.Jason South<\/p>\n

Malthouse told the court he got up in the middle of the night when he heard a noise, armed himself with a small, solid exercise bar and opened his apartment door to find three men.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe they were that stupid and made that much noise trying to get in,\u201d Malthouse said in his statement.<\/p>\n

He described the ensuing confrontation as chaotic, as he swung the exercise bar \u201cand they swung back\u201d.<\/p>\n

Malthouse said he then chased the trio down the stairwell to a basement carpark. One of the men claimed they\u2019d \u201cgot the wrong building\u201d and were chasing a debt from someone else, the court heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike a bunch of cockatoos, they all followed one bloke,\u201d Malthouse said.<\/p>\n

Malthouse said he initially ordered the trio into a corner of the car park in the hope of keeping them there until police arrived, but soon decided it was too dangerous and decided to the open the garage door.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like trying to herd cats \u2013 they were all over the place,\u201d Malthouse told the court.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

The trio then moved past him toward the exit, Malthouse said, as he swung the exercise bar to keep them away.<\/p>\n

Malthouse told the court one of the men then stabbed him in the sternum with a screwdriver and said: \u201c\u2018Now I\u2019ve stabbed you, you bastard\u2019 or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat stays in my mind,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Malthouse told the court that another man then raised a crowbar towards him, but he was able to wrestle it off him despite being dressed in his pyjamas. The men then fled.<\/p>\n

Joshua Di Cello, Aysar Mashu and Andrew Carroll have been charged with trying to invade Malthouse\u2019s home, along with a raft of other offences. They have not yet been required to enter a plea.<\/p>\n

\"MickMick Malthouse and Nathan Buckley in 2011, before Buckley took the reins from his mentor.Paul Rovere<\/p>\n

Defence barrister John Desmond, for Mashu, cross-examined Malthouse during the preliminary hearing, accusing the esteemed coach of angrily turning on the men when he confronted them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cracked not one, but two of them?\u201d Desmond asked, referring to Malthouse swinging at the men with the exercise bar.<\/p>\n

Malthouse replied: \u201cIf I had my way, I would\u2019ve had the three of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Desmond then suggested to Malthouse that he\u2019d effectively controlled the door through which the men could escape whilst swinging his exercise bar.<\/p>\n

\"LawyerLawyer John Desmond.Jason South<\/p>\n

\u201cAs absurd as it may sound, their liberty was deprived in those minutes or seconds by you,\u201d Desmond said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, well, if that\u2019s the case, that\u2019s the case,\u201d Malthouse responded, agreeing he was angry. \u201cIt\u2019s fight or flight \u2013 you don\u2019t choose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Desmond countered: \u201cWell, you\u2019ve never been known to take a backwards step on the footy field, have you?\u201d<\/p>\n

After an objection from prosecutor Sam Jayasekara, Desmond said he was attempting to question Malthouse about an incident during his time at the West Coast Eagles in the 1990s to show that \u201cin an angry state of mind, this man reacts angrily and violently\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"EaglesEagles coach Mick Malthouse (right) holds the 1992 premiership with West Coast captain John Worsfold.Wayne Ludbey<\/p>\n

Earlier in the hearing, Malthouse defended the steps he took to fight off the intruders and inconsistencies between his first and second police statements. He frequently disagreed with the defence\u2019s characterisations, such as a suggestion he might not remember the order of events due to the chaos.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thoroughly remember being stabbed first,\u201d Malthouse said, later re-enacting the thrust towards him in the witness box.<\/p>\n

Malthouse said he didn\u2019t receive any medical treatment, but misjudged the trauma of the incident, during which he worried about the safety of his wife and a family with a young daughter in his building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t read minds of these sorts of people. I\u2019ve got no idea how they operate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The hearing continues.<\/p>\n

Get the day\u2019s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"LachlanLachlan Abbott<\/a> is a crime reporter at The Age. He was previously a city reporter and covered breaking news.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-811930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}