THE MAGPIES are adamant motivation for Saturday's Grand Final against Geelong won't come from wanting to win for individuals such as Mick Malthouse, Leon Davis, Chris Tarrant or Andrew Krakouer.

Malthouse's time at the helm of Collingwood is up, with assistant coach Nathan Buckley to take over after the weekend as part of the coaching succession plan initiated in 2009.

Davis was omitted for last year's Grand Final replay, while Tarrant and Krakouer are also yet to play in premiership sides.

However, midfielder Dale Thomas says the idea of Malthouse making his final appearance in front of the Magpies - and potentially in his last ever game as an AFL coach after saying he won't coach again - as the back-to-back coach of the premiers is appealing. 

"It would be fantastic if all the boys could send Mick off in the way he deserves, but for us, we don't have any focus other than trying to win the premiership for each other and the club," Thomas said.

"There's not one extra motivation whether it be Mick or anything else.

"We're all very motivated and confident we can get the job done, and if we can, it will fantastic for Mick."

Malthouse showed a rare emotional side on Friday night after the Pies' come-from-behind preliminary final win over Hawthorn, with the veteran coach tearing up in the box immediately after the three-point triumph.

Thomas said the players had not given their coach grief over showing his sentimental side, and instead thought it was "fantastic" to see how much he cared about the Pies making it through to successive Grand Finals.

"Like the rest of us at some point in the night, he thought it might have been curtains for the year and for him to show that emotion and relief in a sense was really nice to see, from a pretty hard-edged Mick," he said.

"For him to show that side and how much the game actually means to him, I thought it was really nice."

Thomas didn't play in the Pies' round 24 96-point loss to Geelong due to suspension.

He watched the game from the stands, and while it gave him a different perspective of the Cats, Thomas said the blowout match wasn't something the Pies would evaluate on the eve of the rematch.

Thomas admitted he felt "really disappointed" to have missed the Cats match and the following week's qualifying final after being charged with rough conduct against Fremantle's Garrick Ibbotson.

"To miss a final is never great when your body is fine and when it's through suspension it's probably more disappointing," he said.

"You just have a sense of letting the team down to not be out there and then to see the next week they went out against Geelong and got beaten like that, I did feel a little bit guilty.

"Lucky for me, I've got last Friday night and this weekend to try and make up for it."

Thomas said he was "pretty wrecked" at three-quarter time on Friday night and hoped he would be better off for the run after appearing slightly off his game against the Hawks. 

"It wasn't so much the touch, it was more getting involved in the game," he said.

"You're trying so hard to get involved that you just don't play on instinct as much as when you just keep doing it week after week.

"Therefore, you run into stupid spots and you're not around the ball and you're kind of out there a little bit wondering what you're doing.

"As the game went on, I kind of worked into it a little bit and you find it pretty quickly."

Jennifer Witham covers Collingwood news for the AFL Website. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham