Mick Malthouse sharing the moment as he embarks on AFL coaching record in Carlton-Collingwood match at MCG

As he prepares to break the AFL's all-time coaching record, Mick Malthouse is spending his moment in the sun with others.

Against Collingwood on Friday night, Malthouse will coach his 715th senior match, surpassing legendary Magpies coach Jock McHale.

While he will stand alone as the game's most prolific coach, Malthouse prefers to think of it as a shared award.

He says his first instinct was to brush it off as just another statistic.

But late last year when AFL head office asked him whether he would like to pick his opponent for the match, Malthouse said the weight of the milestone came home.

From there came the realisation that he should embrace the occasion and share it with everyone who had been a part of his coaching journey which began at Footscray in 1984.

"Get over yourself - this is not about you," Malthouse said he told himself.

"It's about the team and people that you've crossed over a long period of time.

"The greatest thing about this football game, is when you win, you share. That's why I say it's a shared award."

Malthouse has spent so long in the game, replying to his well-wishers might take all weekend.

He took the field 174 VFL games as a player with St Kilda and Richmond.

No standout moment for Malthouse

At the age of 30 Malthouse quickly made the transition from playing to coaching, taking the reins at Footscray from 1984-89.

He steered the AFL's original frontier club, the West Coast Eagles, to two flags after joining the club in its fourth season.

He took over from Tony Shaw at Collingwood in 2000 after the Magpies had slumped to the wooden spoon the year before. He guided Collingwood to two grand finals early in his tenure before eventually winning the flag in a grand final replay against St Kilda in 2010.

There is no one moment or player or season that stands out for Malthouse, though he did say the 1992 and 1994 flags with the Eagles would never be truly appreciated by those not involved.

Now at his fourth AFL coaching job at Carlton, Friday night's match looms as an excellent clash even without Malthouse's record.


AFL/VFL's longest standing coaches

Mick Malthouse 714, Jock McHale 714, Kevin Sheedy 679, Allan Jeans 575, Tom Hafey 522, David Parkin 518, Ron Barassi 514, Leigh Matthews 461, Norm Smith 449, Dick Reynolds 415