MICK Malthouse has signed off on his duties as boss of Collingwood by declaring to his former players he couldn't imagine ever coaching against them.
Malthouse told 1800 people in attendance at Friday night's Copeland Trophy, which was later won by Scott Pendlebury, he was not planning on coaching at another club despite declining to take the Pies up on their offer of a director of coaching role.
He said he felt the club always had the conjecture surrounding his future "under control" this year, and that he had gone on The Footy Show in July to let people know he wasn't going to coach anywhere else.
Ultimately, he said he couldn't bear to coach against the players he'd faced the past three Grand Finals with.
"I don't know what I have to say but I'm not coaching anywhere else, and I wasn't coaching anywhere else [at the time of The Footy Show interview]," he said.
"I wanted the players to understand I wasn't coaching anywhere else. I wanted the players to understand I couldn't possibly coach against the boys that I've been with, some for 12 years.
"I could not do that, I believe I'm pretty much a loyalist and I could not possibly do that."
Malthouse's family, including wife Nanette and their four children and their partners, were in attendance and thanked by both the veteran coach and club president Eddie McGuire on stage.
Malthouse said his decision not to coach again had been made in honour of them.
"For some reason with 2012, I should have said 2013, 14, 15. If I had said 2017, they would have said you're coming back in 2016," he said.
"That's not the case. We've had a good go at this. We've loved every moment of it.
"I've tried to make it as easy as I can. I made sure it was going to be the last game before I told the player group.
"I told a few people within the organisation and they knew exactly where I was coming from, and in Eddie' defence, he was talking about staying on and there was no hostility.
"More and more, I looked at my family and the more and more I took from the late Allan Jeans and his funeral, and I spoke to him four hours before he died, he was still a football coach.
"I'll never lose my passion to coach but there comes a time where you just have to move over and give it to someone else, and you give something back to your family."
Malthouse wished incoming coach Nathan Buckley all the best for the future and said he had taken the advice of an unnamed player he "valued the thoughts of" to put off the announcement he was leaving the club until after the last game.
That player was the only one he told ahead of last Saturday's Grand Final.
He said he had done that to make things as "smooth as possible" for Buckley.
"It's a different seat, as a passenger to the main seat, but it's an exciting seat and there's nothing to fear," he said, to his successor.
"I've seen you as a player and I'm sure that you will understand what I say jumping from one group to the other, in other words an assistant to the senior job, takes on board more responsibilities.
"It's a difficult life, but it's a wonderful life and it's very rewarding and I wish you the best.
"It's not going to be easy in an 18-team competition next year but if you've been stung by this year, then you'll go forward.
"I know the players that haven't played, and a few of them will certainly make entrances next year.
"The players that have played, they're young, aggressive and still got that hunger [and] I think we've got a very, very good football side for the future."
Malthouse also said this year "needs to be explained", and applauded the group for getting through two finals and three quarters of the Grand Final after it faced adversity in the lead-up to the finals.
"If I had one wish, and it was only a minor wish, I'd flip the season around and say that when Heath Shaw got his eight [weeks suspended] and 'Daisy' got a few and Nick [Maxwell] was injured and 'Dawesy' and 'Toov' and a few of the others, if it had been in the first part of the season, we may be talking about how great this club was in a back to back," he said.
"Take nothing away from Geelong because you can't resurrect the past.
"We lost momentum, and it was no fault of the player group. It's very hard to maintain it.
"We've never come out in the media and said, 'We're hurting', [but] we were hurting alright.
"We lost a lot of players along the way, we blooded a lot of young players along the way, but we just couldn't get those players working in the last seven or eight weeks together, or perhaps 10 weeks, and charge into the finals."
Captain Nick Maxwell spoke on behalf of the leadership group and all players, and thanked Malthouse for not giving up on anyone and that he would "never be forgotten".
Jennifer Witham covers Collingwood news for the AFL Website. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenWitham.
