Friday night’s blockbuster between Collingwood and Carlton will take on an extra dimension as one man creates VFL/ AFL history.

Carlton leader Mick Malthouse will break the league’s record for all-time games coached when he takes his team into battle for the 715^th time.

Malthouse, who coached Collingwood to the 2010 premiership, is breaking the record of another famous Magpie leader, Jock McHale, who has held the record since 1927.

Collingwood Media has compiled a list of facts, statistics and information that are important to the careers of both Malthouse and McHale on the eve of the passing of the baton between two of the game’s greatest coaches.

As a Magpie

Arguably Collingwood’s most famous figure, McHale was involved with Collingwood as a player or a coach for a remarkable 55 years.

He played 261 games as a player, including 191 consecutive games between 1906 and 1917. In what was a more common occurrence at the time, McHale spent the last nine years of his playing career as captain-coach.

McHale’s 38 years as Collingwood coach is regarded by many as the greatest contribution to a football club in the history of the VFL/AFL.

Even on an international scale, his legacy is largely unrivalled.

Sir Alex Ferguson coached Manchester United in the English Premier League for 27 years for a winning percentage of 60.2 per cent. Over in the US, Gregg Popovich has been an NBA head coach with the San Antonio Spurs for 18 years, with a winning percentage of 68.4 per cent just eclipsing McHale.

McHale’s legacy lives on in football today. Premiership coaches have been awarded the Jock McHale Medal since this coaching career ended in 1950.

Mick Malthouse has three of these medals in his possession.

Collingwood President Eddie McGuire was the man that set about bringing Malthouse to the Magpies at the end of the 1999 season.

McGuire saw Malthouse as a man who could turn a bottom of the ladder Collingwood to a force in the AFL.

Off the field, the club grew from strength to strength. Finally in 2010, the success was mirrored on it as the Magpies won their first premiership under Malthouse.

After tasting premiership glory at the side he once supported as a child, Malthouse’s last home and away season at Collingwood in 2011 would be his most successful.

The Magpies lost just two games for the season, with a 14-game winning streak ending on the eve of the finals. While a Grand Final defeat at the hands of Geelong would follow, Malthouse left Collingwood with a reputation as one of the best coaches in the club’s history.

In September

No two coaches have taken part in more finals than McHale and Malthouse.

Back when a place in the top four secured you a trip to the post season, McHale coached Collingwood to 27 finals series for 58 games, 16 Grand Finals and eight premierships.

The fifth of these premierships in 1930 is noteworthy for a number of reasons. The win marked Collingwood’s fourth consecutive premiership – a record that has never been equalled or broken. McHale is credited as the premiership coach despite being absent on the day.

After a season where he coached the Magpies to a record of 17 wins and four losses, he fell ill leading up to Grand Final day and surrendered the coaching duties club treasurer Bob Rush.

Malthouse has won more finals as a coach than any man in VFL/AFL history. He has taken every club he’s coached to September action and only missed the finals nine times in his 29 year coaching career. He is a three time premiership coach – West Coast in 1992 and 1994 and of course Collingwood in 2010.

After starting his coaching career at Footscray, Malthouse found remarkable success at West Coast. He never missed a finals series during his time in Perth, and won West Coast a flag in just his third year at the helm. This success continued at Collingwood where he reached eight finals series including six in a row from 2006 to 2011.

The players

With 1,428 games coached between them, the number of players tutored by McHale and Malthouse is extensive. Some have been one-game wonders, but there have been many champions of the game that have learnt their craft by McHale and Malthouse.

McHale coached five Brownlow Medallists in his time at Collingwood – Syd Coventry, Albert Collier, Harry Collier, Marcus Whelan and Des Fothergill.

Before his infamous dispute with Malthouse in 1986, Brad Hardie won the Brownlow Medal during his time at the Western Oval. At Collingwood, he guided Nathan Buckley and Dane Swan to Brownlow Medals in 2003 and 2011 respectively.

The opposition

Malthouse’s time as a coach has coincided with drastic changes and expansion of the game of Australian Rules football.

From 1984 to 2015, Malthouse has seen the league expand from 12 to 18 teams and spread from a Victorian competition to a national game.

He was West Coast’s third and most successful coach before moving back closer to home to coach Collingwood.

Malthouse has coached against 94 other coaches. He only has a negative win-loss ratio against three teams – Essendon (43.22%), Hawthorn (46.15%) and Brisbane (46.15%).

McHale’s win-loss ratio of 65 per cent is the third best in the history of the game for coaches who have coached more than 100 games. Keeping in mind he coached 714 games, this is no easy feat.

He won 95 per cent of his matches against Hawthorn, with the Hawks only defeating Collingwood twice in McHale’s 38-year tenure.

And while it may make Collingwood fans cringe, McHale finished his coaching career with a negative win-loss record against just one team – Carlton.