'Zero expertise': David Koch slams AFL great over China comments

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has reinforced his club's commitment to the AFL's China game and issued a scathing response to Mick Malthouse's criticism of the arrangement.

Football great Malthouse this week urged the AFL to boycott China because of the country's handling of the coronavirus crisis.

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In an article that appeared in the Herald Sun, Malthouse said continuing to play matches at Shanghai's Jiangwan Stadium, which the league has done annually since 2017, was "the last thing" the AFL should do.

The arrangement is in limbo as the world attempts to come to grips with the coronavirus pandemic.

But Koch told Fox Footy on Saturday that Port Adelaide would stand firm on its China deal and branded Malthouse a "dinosaur".

"Mick Malthouse has zero expertise and so zero relevance in any of this," Koch said.

"If Mick Malthouse made a comment on footy I'd give it a glancing look (but) when it comes to China, absolutely zero relevance whatsoever."

Port Adelaide has featured in all three AFL matches in Shanghai to date, firstly against Gold Coast and then St Kilda.

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Koch said football had been used as "a way to build a bridge with China" and gave a reminder of the financial benefits his club reaped from the agreement.

"If it was up to Mick Malthouse, he'd bring back the White Australia policy," he added.

Later on Saturday, Malthouse took offence to that remark and clarified he did not have an issue with Chinese people.

Instead, his gripe specifically relates to the Chinese government.

Malthouse issued a direct response to Koch and accused Port Adelaide of selling out.

"I'm very disappointed in a bloke like David Koch for those remarks (which) are very, very offline for a start," Malthouse told ABC Grandstand WA.

"Quite frankly, (he is) a man who's made a decision for his football club to take the money.

"I've been called a 'dinosaur' before, that's water off a duck's back. I've also made football comments before and some are right and some are wrong."

Malthouse added he "gets on famously" with some people of Chinese descent in his extended family.

"I've never made any issues about the Chinese," he said.

"The fact is the virus has come from China, there's no denying that.

"It was the way it has come to the world, the way it has tried to be hidden by a communist regime."